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Rishabh Pant, the Indian wicketkeeper-batter, was spotted helping Bangladesh cricket team set field against him in a hilarious moment on day three of the first Test match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. After India won the game by 280 runs on day four, Rishabh Pant was asked about the reason for helping Bangladesh, to which he revealed that it’s important to improve the standards of cricket whether your team or opposition are taking the field.
Notably, on day three of the first Test match, when Rishabh Pant was involved in a big partnership of 167 runs for the fourth wicket with Shubman Gill in the second innings for India, he was heard saying on the stump mic “one fielder here,” while pointing towards the mid-wicket region in the field. The captain of Bangladesh, Najmul Hossain Shanto, listened to the Indian wicketkeeper-batter, and he went on to set the field against him accordingly.
Rishabh Pant scored hundred on his return to Test cricket after 18 months
After Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill completed their respective hundreds, India declared their second innings on 287/4, setting up a mammoth target of 515 runs in front of Bangladesh. In their second innings, the visitors started reasonably well, but the pressure of the massive run chase told on them with them getting bundled out for 234 runs after Ravichandran Ashwin picked up a six-wicket haul, while Ravindra Jadeja took three wickets.
In the post-match show on JioCinema, Saba Karim put up the question about why he was helping the Bangladesh cricket team set the field against him before pointing out that the opposition agreed to it. In response, Rishabh Pant was quoted as saying, “Ajay bhai (Ajay Jadeja) se jab bhi off the field baat hoti hai toh wo hamesha kehte hai ki cricket behtar honi chahiye phir chahe dusri team khele ya khud ki team khele (Ajay bhai always says during our interaction that cricket should become better as a sport whether its opposition team or your team is playing it).”
“Toh jab do khiladi ek saath khade thae toh maine usse kaha ki bhai idhar bhi fielder laga de (So when I noticed that two fielders were standing nearby, I told them that you can set on fielder on the other side),” Rishabh Pant further added. Moreover, after taking the 1-0 lead in the two-match Test series, India will be playing the second Test match at the Green Park in Kanpur from September 27 onwards.
