'Love Playing in Chennai, The Century Was Emotional': Rishabh Pant Says ‘He Belongs to Test Cricket’

Rishabh Pant made a classic comeback to Test cricket after a long injury break and played a crucial role in India’s magnificent victory against Bangladesh in Chennai. After managing just 39 runs in the first innings, the wicketkeeper-batter smashed his 6^th Test hundred in India’s second essay. His dominant knock, along with Shubman Gill’s century, set the foundation for India’s 280-run win and helped the hosts take a 1-0 lead in the ongoing series.

Pant expressed his love affair with Chepauk, stating that the comeback knock against Bangladesh was indeed an emotional one.

“I love playing in Chennai. After the injury, I was looking to play all three formats, this was my first match in this format and hopefully, I did better. Definitely, it was emotional, I was looking to score runs in each and every game,” Pant told the broadcasters after the match

“Coming back to Test cricket where I belong the most, being on the field gives me pleasure more than anything else. I don’t know what people say outside, I tried to read the situation in my own way, when you are 30-3 you need to stitch a partnership and that’s what I did with Gill. To do it with a guy who I have a great relationship with is special,” he added.

Ashwin completed a memorable all-round outing with a six-wicket haul as a dominant India crushed Bangladesh to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. Set an improbable target of 515, Bangladesh were bowled out for 234 in their second innings, with first-inning centurion Ashwin (6/88) doing the bulk of the damage at the his home ground at the Chepauk.

Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto top-scored for Bangladesh with an 82 off 127 balls.

Earlier on Sunday, India declared their second innings at 287 for 4 riding on twin hundreds from Rishabh Pant (109) and Shubman Gill (119) for an overall lead of 514. The visitors were 158/4 when bad light had stopped play on day three.