Wriddhiman Saha scored 61 not out in India's second innings on Day 4 at Kanpur.
The hosts were looking to stretch their lead past 250 and Saha’s 61 not out propelled India to 234/7 (declared), extending the overall lead to 283. He was the second highest scorer in India’s innings after Shreyas Iyer, who hit a brilliant 65.
After the day’s play, India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour said Saha is an "ideal team man" who can always be relied to do the "tough job."
"He had a really, really stiff neck and knowing Saha who is an ideal team man, he is going to do whatever is required," Rathour said in the press conference.
"He would do the tough things for the team and he played an extremely important knock at the stage the team was at that point."
"That is what we always expect from Wriddhi. He has always been that kind of a person, whom we can count on and today he showed why," he added.
However, Rathour made it clear that Saha will have to play the second fiddle when India's first-choice keeper-batter Rishabh Pant gets back from break.
"As far as Wriddhi is concerned, unfortunately for him, we have an extremely special player Rishabh, who is number one keeper for us and has done extremely well in past few years.
"That's the role (No. 2) Wriddhi has at the moment that we need him when Pant is not available," he said.
Rathour also heaped praise on Shreyas Iyer, who top-scored for India in both innings on Test debut. The right-hander scored his maiden Test ton (105) in the first essay before hitting a fifty in the second dig.
"It's always exciting when a debutant comes in and scores a hundred and that's very special. I thought he looked even better in the second innings, all credit to him.
"It's exciting as a support staff to see somebody walking in and doing it for the team. He showed he is a confident young guy, uses his feet very very well against spin."
(With PTI inputs)