Why did Pant arrange the field for Najmul? Pant himself explained it. Who was the captain of Bangladesh then—Shanto or Rishabh Pant?
Upon hearing the question, Rishabh Pant burst into laughter. Those who know about last Saturday’s incident would probably laugh as well. On the third day of the Chennai Test, during India’s second innings, there was a moment when Pant was seen arranging Bangladesh’s fielding. Following his instructions, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain positioned the fielder accordingly.
The video of this incident spread widely on social media. After the match yesterday, India’s commentator Saba Karim reminded Pant of the incident. He asked, who was the captain of the Bangladesh team at that time—Shanto or Pant? The field arrangement incident occurred during a new over. Taskin Ahmed came to bowl.
Seeing two Bangladesh fielders standing side by side on the off-side, Pant gestured towards mid-wicket, saying, “Hey, brother, come over here. There’s one fielder short on this side.” He didn’t stop at just gesturing. To make it clearer, he even mentioned “mid-wicket.”
When asked about this incident yesterday, Pant first burst into laughter. He then started explaining, “Ajay (Jadeja) bhai and I often discuss how to do better in cricket. Whether it’s our team or another team. There was no fielder in that spot. Two were standing in the same place, so I said to put one fielder there.” Standing with the bat in hand, Pant, who even arranged the opponent’s fielding, performed quite well in that innings. He played an innings of 109 runs, which was his first Test century in almost two years.
Drawing Najmul’s attention to the lack of a fielder inside the circle on the leg side, Pant, in Hindi, said, “Hey, put a fielder here. There’s one short on this side.” Interestingly, Najmul accepted Pant’s suggestion and placed a fielder in the mid-wicket region.
