Team India star Rishabh Pant was involved in a heated exchange with Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batter Litton Das on Day 1 of the 1st Test in Chennai. The incident happened in the 15th over of India’s first innings with Taskin Ahmed bowling to Yashasvi Jaiswal. Taskin bowled a good length a delivery to Jaiswal who defended it towards gully. Pant wanted to steal a run but was sent back by Jaiswal. As the fielder sent the ball towards the non-striker’s end, it deflected off Pant’s pads and went towards mid-on.

As a result, Pant and Jaiswal managed to change ends and added another run to India’s score. However, Litton was not happy that the batters took a run after the ball deflected off Pant’s pads.

He confronted Pant who wasn’t having any of it. After exchanging a few words, Litton went back to take his position behind the stumps. 

Argument between Litton das & Rishabh pant.#INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/P4Wrf170UJ

— Sports With Naveen (@sportscey) September 19, 2024

Meanwhile, India reached 88 for three at lunch on the opening day of the first Test against Bangladesh.

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was batting on 37 in the company of Rishabh Pant, who is unbeaten on 33. Pacer Hasan Mahmud claimed all three Indian wickets as skipper Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kolhi were dismissed in the opening session after being put into bat by the visitors on a lively Chepauk pitch.

Meanwhile, India reached 88 for three at lunch on the opening day of the first Test against Bangladesh.

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was batting on 37 in the company of Rishabh Pant, who is unbeaten on 33. Pacer Hasan Mahmud claimed all three Indian wickets as skipper Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kolhi were dismissed in the opening session after being put into bat by the visitors on a lively Chepauk pitch.

Playing XIs

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj.

Bangladesh: Shadman Islam, Zakir Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana.

The Bangladesh men’s cricket team, after a historic series win against Pakistan, is already gearing up for the next challenge, a 2-Test assignment against India. The victory for Bangladesh against Pakistan was historic from points of views, but the team’s star of the series, Litton Das, is keen to not talk about his side’s results against Pakistan, but rather the upcoming challenge against India. During a chat with the media, Litton even urged reporters to not ask questions about the Pakistan win as that is in the past.

The fact that Bangladesh already want to focus on the matches against India and move past the euphoria of Pakistan win, speaks about a mental shift that was rarely seen before.

“We have played very well against Pakistan. That is already in the past,” Litton said while speaking to reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Tuesday. “Obviously, very important (to leave the Pakistan series behind) and you (the media) also need to help a bit. It would be better if you don’t talk too much about the Pakistan series. There is a big challenging series ahead (against India). For me as a player, that is in the past (Pakistan Series). But we definitely gained confidence from that.”

Das admitted that the India assignment will be a challenging one for his team, considering Rohit Sharma‘s men would be playing at home.

“When we play India at their home, they are always the better side. I wouldn’t say it will be extremely challenging or very easy. They are a very good team in their own conditions. If you look at the rankings, they are so high up. So I think it will be a challenging series for us,” he said.

“India is a big team and the ball will also change,” Litton observed. “We rarely play with that ball. It will be challenging. The players are working very hard.

Moments from Litton Das’ press conference. | #BCB #Bangladesh #INDvsBAN pic.twitter.com/8PWNJZyaEJ

— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) September 10, 2024

Litton also sees the SG ball as a big challenge for Bangladesh to overcome.

“As for preparation, we are facing the main bowlers as much as we can. The SG ball is somewhat difficult. It’s tough to play with the Kookaburra when the ball is new, but it’s easier to play once the ball is old. However, with the SG ball, playing with the new ball is somewhat easier, but playing with the old ball is tougher. We are practicing, let’s see what happens.”

“We need to focus on this. In Test cricket, you have to win sessions. Every session is important. Personally I feel we couldn’t play our 100% in the first sessions. There is room for a big improvement here,” he said.

File image of the Indian cricket team© AFP

Liton Das hit a fighting hundred to lift Bangladesh from a precarious 26-6 to 262 all out on Sunday, in a remarkable turnaround that left the second Test in Rawalpindi within either team’s grasp. The 29-year-old hit 138 over the course of a marathon 333 minutes and brought Bangladesh back into the match with a fighting 165-run seventh-wicket stand alongside Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who scored a pugnacious 78. At close on the third day, Bangladesh struck back to leave Pakistan on a sluggish 9-2, with opener Abdullah Shafique dismissed for three and nightwatchman Khurram Shahzad falling without scoring — both to pacer Hasan Mahmud.

Saim Ayub was not out on six as the home team lead by 21 runs, and Pakistan will need to bat smartly to clinch a series-levelling win after losing the first Test, also in Rawalpindi, by 10 wickets.

Bangladesh’s win last week was their first in 14 attempts against Pakistan.

The highlight of the day was Das and Mehidy’s match-turning stand.

On top of that, Das added 69 with tail-ender Mahmud (13 not out) in a 24.5-over ninth wicket stand, equalling the partnership record against Pakistan and leaving the home team frustrated.

Das, dropped on 90 by spinner Abrar Ahmed off his own bowling, hit a late cut off the same bowler to reach his fourth Test hundred. He finally holed out to Agha Salman at long-on.

Das, who came to the crease with Bangladesh tottering at 26-5, cracked 13 boundaries and four sixes, adding a big 236 for the last four wickets.

Earlier, Pakistan were put in a strong position by pacer Shahzad’s career-best 6-90 and Mir Hazma (2-50) in the morning session, but they were left wanting thereafter.

Das and Mehidy’s solid stand took advantage of an eased-out Rawalpindi stadium pitch in the second session of the rain-affected Test, which saw Friday’s first day washed out.

Shahzad, who had taken 4-15 in his first spell, had Mehidy caught and bowled off a miscued drive two overs before tea to end Pakistan’s long and frustrating wait for the seventh wicket.

Das and Mehidy are the first pair in Tests to add 150 or more runs for the seventh or lower wicket from a team total under 50 runs.

Mehidy, who took 5-61 on Saturday, hit 12 boundaries and a six as he passed 50 for the eighth time in Tests.

Bangladesh resumed at the start of the day on 10-0, but Shahzad soon had opener Zakir Hasan caught by Abrar Ahmed at short midwicket for one in the fourth over.

Shahzad then bowled Shadman Islam (10) and skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (four) in the space of four deliveries to reduce Bangladesh to 20-3.

At the other end, Hamza had Mominul Haque caught by Mohammad Ali at mid-on for one and then removed first Test centurion Mushfiqur Rahim for three, caught behind by Mohammad Rizwan from a beautiful outswinger.

Shahzad made it 26-6 by trapping Shakib Al Hasan lbw for two before Mehidy and Das dug in.

Shahzad’s previous best figures were 3-45 in his debut Test against Australia at Perth last year.

Pak vs Ban LIVE, 1st Test Day 4: Bangladesh Near Pakistan’s Total© AFP

Following his side’s eight-run defeat against Afghanistan in the Super Eights match of the T20 World Cup 2024, Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto said that they made poor decisions while batting in the middle overs. Najmul Hossain Shanto displayed a poor performance in the second innings of the match. He scored 5 runs from 5 balls at a strike rate of 100.00. The Bangladesh skipper just slammed 1-four during his time on the crease. Speaking after the match, Shanto said that their plan was to go hard in the first six overs of the second innings. He also accepted that the middle order of Bangladesh’s batting lineup failed to execute.

He further added that the Bangladesh bowling attack performed well throughout the tournament.

“I think we bowled really well, we did lots of good things but as a batting unit, we made poor decisions, especially in the middle overs and that’s what cost us today. The plan was to go hard in the first six overs, if we lost early wickets, the plan was to bat normally, but that didn’t happen and the middle-order couldn’t execute. The whole tournament we have bowled really well, both the pacers and the spinners. Especially Rishad was great, the fast bowlers also did really well. Also, as a fielding group, we did well,” Shanto said.

Recapping the match, after winning the toss Rashid Khan-led Afghanistan decided to bat against Bangladesh.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (43 runs from 55 balls, 3 fours and 1 six) played a stupendous knock for the Afghan side and powered them to 115-5. Ibrahim Zadran (18 runs from 29 balls, 1 four) and Rashid Khan (19* runs from 10 balls, 3 sixes) tried their best in the final stage of the first inning and added some crucial runs on the scoreboard.

Rishad Hossain led the Bangladesh bowling attack after he picked up three wickets and gave 26 runs in his four-over spell.

The second inning of the match was reduced to 19 overs, and the target was 114 runs after rain played a spoilsport in the second inning.

During the run chase, Litton Das (54* runs from 49 balls, 5 fours, and 1 six) was the only standout batter for the Tigers as he scored the highest among his teammates.

Naveen-ul-Haq and Rashid Khan picked up four wickets each in their respective spells. Fazalhaq Farooqi and Gulbadin Naib also bagged one wicket each in their respective spells and helped the Afghan side win the match by eight runs.

After the defeat, Mitchell Marsh-led Australia are also out of the tournament. The Aussies ended up in third place in the Group 1 table of the Super Eights with just two points.

India vs Bangladesh, T20 World Cup Warm-Up, Live Score Updates© AFP