India keeper Rishabh Pant has revealed the secret of his successful partnership with Shubman Gill during the second innings in the opening Test against Bangladesh: Their great bonhomie off the field.

They conjured a 167-run stand which turned out to be very important in the final context of the match.

“When you have a great relationship outside the field, it helps to bat with that guy. We were having fun, having chats, talking about the game, and staying relaxed. At the end of the day, we both knew what we wanted to do,” Pant, who smashed a century on Test comeback, said in a BCCI video posted on social media.

“The understanding of the game for me is that cricket should improve wherever you play. So, I was trying to help the team that you can set a fielder here, and it was amazing. I enjoyed it.”

The century — 109 off 128 balls, including 13 fours and four sixes — was specialfor the 26-year-old, who was making his return to the longest format after nearly two years following a horrificcar accident in December 2022.

Speaking about his return, Pant admitted that hewas nervous, but the fireinside him to make a mark made it happen.

“I was very nervous. I was very jittery, but there was some fire inside that I wanted to make it happen, and eventually, I did it, and I’m happy,”he added.

Gill too narrated an incident which revealed their bonding.

Whenever either of them hit a boundary, Pant would hit Gill’s bat hard with his. While it was normal to do it as a way of congratulating his partner in the middle, Gill had his reasons to ask Pant to stop it.

“I was telling him not to because I was playing with a bat that I played the England series with, so my bat is quite old actually,” said Gill.

But Pant didn’t listen. “He was hitting my bat so hard... I was telling him that I am trying to save my bat. But if he didn’t middle it (hit well), he would say ‘no, let’s do it again’. But I told him, bro, calm down!” Gill said.