Virat’s 48th ODI Century Guides India to 4th Consecutive Win

Pune: Virat Kohli proved whyhe is one of the best chasers inworld cricket with a well-pacedunbeaten century after spinnersRavindra Jadeja and KuldeepYadav stifled the Bangladeshinnings to trigger a collapse as
India romped to a seven-wicketwin with 51 balls to spare inMatch 17 of ICC Men’s ODIWorld Cup on Thursday.
Kohli, playing a wellcontrolledinning, raised 44 runsfor the second wicket withShubman Gill (53), who also
scored a half-century and anunbeaten 83-run partnershipwith KL Rahul, who scored a runa-ball 34, as India reached 261/3in 41.3 overs after restrictingBangladesh to 256/8 in 50 overs.This is India’s fourth win infour matches in the World Cupand they are tied with NewZealand on eight points, placedsecond on Net Run Rate.India started their chase of 257as they have done so far in thisWorld Cup with skipper RohitSharma taking the attack to thebowlers as they raised 88 runsfor the opening partnership.The India skipper lived in thefast lane as she first creamed
Shoriful Islam for four throughpoints and then flayed a wide onepast the backward point in thefirst over. Rohit then blasted the22-year-old left-arm pacer for afour and six in the third over,making the most of two poordeliveries bowled by theBangladesh bowler. Rohit struck four more boundaries – two of them offNasum Ahmed and one each off Shoriful and Mahmud, who tried to pepperthe Indian skipper with some short stuff and in the end sent back Rohit.The Mumbai batsman hooked Mahmud for a big six over fine leg butperished trying to repeat the shot off the next delivery. Three fours, two ofthem off successive deliveries in the 12th over by Mustafizur propelled himtowards his fifty. But just when it looked like the batter from Chandigarhwould go on and score a big on, he holed on to Mahmudullah at midwicketoff Mehidy Hasan Miraz, failing to despatch to the fence a delivery on his
leg-stump. Kohli and Gill added 44 runs for the second wicket, taking India
past the 100-run mark. Kohli took over the leading role after that as he
scored his 69th half-century, playing a cautious and steady innings. He
hammered Hasan Mahmud for a four and a six off as the bowler overstepped
twice. He dealt mostly in singles and doubles, in between hitting Nasum
Ahmed, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Hasan Mahmud for a boundary each as he
reached his half-century in 48 balls, hitting four boundaries and one maximum.
Shreyas Iyer (19 off 25 balls) did not last long, caught at midwicket off
Mehidy Hasan Miraz. But Kohli and KL Rahul guided India to victory with
a lot to spare. Earlier, bowling in tandem, Jadeja and Kuldeep helped India
fight back and restrict Bangladesh to 256/8 in 50 overs after openers Litton
Das and Tanzid Hasan struck well-compiled half-centuries. Jadeja (2-38 off
10) and Yadav (1-47) sent back the two set batters and stifled Bangladesh’s
innings, triggering a middle-order collapse. Bangladesh from 110/1 in the
20th over could manage a modest score after electing to bat first on a flat
wicket. For India, pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohd Siraj came back well in
the death overs to claim two wickets apiece though Siraj was a tad expensive
at 2-60 off 10 overs.

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