India brushed aside Bangladesh in Pune on Wednesday (October 19) to stay unbeaten in the 2023 ODI World Cup. After restricting Bangladesh to a par score of 256/8, India chased down the target with ease after significant contributions from their top order. While Shubman Gill hit a fifty, Rohit scored a brisk 48 before Kohli provided the finishing touch with his 48th ODI century.
Rohit, who has been in scintillating form in the last two games, teed off early yet again. After finding the boundary twice in the very first over, Rohit took on Shoriful Islam again in his next over for a four and a six over deep midwicket to race to 21 off just 13 balls. Gill, who made a watchful start initially, broke free with two sixes off Nasum Ahmed as India got off to an excellent start in the chase.
Hasan Mahmud deployed the short-ball strategy against Rohit and struck to it despite being hit for a four and a six by the India captain. Eventually, the ploy paid off as Rohit tried to keep a ball down but ended up finding the fielder stationed at the deep to fall for 48. However, in the same over, Bangladesh failed to build pressure on the new man as Kohli was handed two free-hits to get going. With India flying, Bangladesh badly needed wickets to storm back into the game. Even though they managed to pack off Gill immediately after he got to his fifty, Kohli and Shreyas Iyer ensured there were no hiccups.
India continued to stay on top of the chase even after Iyer’s dismissal as KL Rahul joined forces with Kohli for the finishing act. The last few overs were all about Kohli getting to his century. At one point when Rahul was batting on 33, Kohli was on 73 with India needing only 28 for the win. When India’s No.3 smashed a six off Hasan, he sensed an opportunity to get to a ton and Rahul duly obliged at the other end. He got to the landmark and finished the game with a six with Rahul staying unbeaten on 34.
Earlier in the day, Bangladesh squandered a very good opportunity to post a strong total on the board after the middle order failed to capitalise on the start provided by their openers. India’s new ball bowlers posed questions early on as Bangladesh scored just 10 runs in the first five overs. However, things changed dramatically in the next five as both Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das opened. A flurry of boundaries saw Bangladesh score 53 off the next five to put up 63 on the board in the powerplay.
India were also without Hardik Pandya, who had to leave the field in the powerplay for scans on his left ankle. The two batters continued to milk the bowling attack before Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja came to India’s rescue. Kuldeep broke the opening stand by trapping Tanzid leg-before-wicket and Jadeja ensured the in-form Najmul Shanto, who was also leading in Shakib Al Hasan’s absence, didn’t make an impact. Wickets then continued to tumble for Bangladesh as they went from 93/0 to 137/4.
With the scoring rate also dropping, India were in total control in the middle phase of the innings. The onus was now on the experienced duo of Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah to guide Bangladesh to a fighting total. While Rahim did keep the scorecard ticking, India struck again just before he could tee off at the death with a little over seven overs left in the innings. Thankfully for Bangladesh, Mahmudullah managed to fetch boundaries off India’s pace trio in the final five overs to guide his side past 250.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 256/8 in 50 overs (Litton Das 66, Tanzid Hasan 51; Ravindra Jadeja 2/38) lost to India 261/3 in 41.3 overs (Virat Kohli 103*, Shubman Gill 53; Mehidy Hasan 2/47) by 7 wickets
