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A Virat Kohli century followed Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja’s fine bowling performances and they combined to give India their fourth successive win in the 2023 World Cup.
In a match in which Bangladesh looked to have posted a challenging 256 for eight from their 50 overs, India mowed down the target in a mere 41.3 overs to join New Zealand as the only two teams with four wins from four games.
Kohli’s 48th ODI century and his partnerships with Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul proved to be enough to ensure that India did not face any hiccups in sealing the victory.
This was after India fought back well to restrict Bangladesh to their score after they had gotten off to a solid start.
All smiles in Pune as #TeamIndia register their fourth win in #CWC23 😃👌#INDvBAN | #MenInBlue pic.twitter.com/BetXKxTSh7
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 19, 2023
Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das added 93 for the wicket after Bangladesh captain Najmul Shanton had won the toss and decided to bat first.
They took only 14.4 overs to do so and at that stage it looked like Bangladeh were well on their way to getting to 300 at the very least.
A middle-order collapse which saw Bangladesh lose four wickets for 44 runs had them struggling at 137 for four. With India having lost Hardik Pandya’s bowling services in his very first over to an injury, they could have done a lot better.
Instead, Mushfiqur Rahim chipped in with an innings of 38 while Mahmudullah scored 46 off 36 to lift a strife-ridden Bangladesh batting. They did keep losing wickets at regular intervals but limped to over 250 thanks to a couple of late shots.
India’s reply was as clinical as it has been over the previous couple of games against Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Captain Rohit Sharma picked off from where he had left off in the previous games, slapping anything short that was bowled at him. Shubman Gill gave him good company with the duo adding 88 for the first wicket in less than 13 overs.
Rohit was tempted into playing one pull shot too many but Gill continued on to score his first 50 of the tournament.
Kohli would go on to get a dazzling start to his innings with Hasan Mahmud bowling back to back no-balls at him, allowing him to his a boundary and a six off the following free hits.
Gill departed soon after getting to a half-century as he looked to take on Mehidy Hasan while Shreyas Iyer left for 19 to give Bangladesh an outside chance.
KL Rahul, however, ensured there were no hiccups and in partnership with Kohli added 83 runs for the fourth wickets. Kohli refused a few singles towards the end in a bid to get to his century and did that with a six that also won India the game.
Kohli was declared the man-of-the-match.
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