Over the years, a fresh on-field rivalry has been brewing up between India and Bangladesh with both teams engaging in edge-of-the-seat thrillers. However, on Thursday, there was a stark difference in both the teams’ approach, with the Men-in-Blue convincingly winning the encounter by seven wickets to make it four wins in a row in the ongoing World Cup. And Bangladesh slid to a third straight defeat to dent their chances in the campaign.
To make India’s win sweeter, a Virat Kohli hundred, his third at the MCA Stadium to hit the winning run, was simply the icing on the cake in front of a capacity crowd.
The master chaser in Kohli was pretty evident from a knock that had perfection, and calculation written all over it, coming off 97 balls, laced with six hits to the fence and four over it, and ensured India’s dominance in the table.
India’s chase of 257 began on a solid note with Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma (48 off 40 balls) laying the platform with a 88-run opening stand, with the Bangladesh bowlers failing to yield any assistance from the flat deck unlike their Indian counterparts.
Rohit started the onslaught with a six before pumping in the boundaries with Shubman playing the perfect second fiddle in the blistering partnership, that ended once the India skipper after dispatching Hasan Mahmud for a six over fine leg, attempted another mighty hit but instead managed to get the toe-end of the stick for Towhid Hridoy to complete the formalities at deep square leg fence.
By that time, Shubman, arguably India’s best batter of the season with five centuries, including a double, got into his groove by smoking two sixes in three balls off Nasum Ahmed, got to his maiden World Cup half century and in the process added 44 runs for the second wicket with Kohli. Due for a big score, Kohli chose to change his template and started off with a four and a six before getting to his 69th half century, and more importantly held anchor to India’s chase.
With Shreyas Iyer falling for a sluggish 25-ball 19, KL Rahul came up with yet another sedate knock but made sure to ensure Kohli completed his century and India crossed the line in style.
Earlier, Bangladesh suffered a mid-innings slump, losing four wickets for 36 runs after a solid start provided by the opening pair of Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das with contrasting half centuries.
Electing to bat, Bangladesh desperately missed the experience of skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who failed to recover from a left quadriceps injury, and missed the solidity in the middle orders. Indian spinners took full advantage of the situation and ensured that they took control of the proceedings.
Litton top-scored for the side with 66 off 82 balls, while Tanzid struck a brisk 43-ball-51 in a first-wicket partnership of 93 before their innings derailed, thanks to the inroads created by the Indian spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.
However, seasoned campaigner Mushfiqur Rahim’s gritty 38 off 46 deliveries and Mahmudullah’s power-packed 46 off 36 balls in the death overs helped Bangladesh put 256 for 8.
For India, Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah picked up two wickets each for India.
Pandya picks nasty injury
All-rounder Hardik Pandya limped off the field after sustaining an ankle injury while bowling. In the ninth over of the game, Hardik, having bowled the second delivery to Litton, tried to stop the ball with his right leg in his followthrough. As the ball rolled down to the fence, the Indian all-rounder stuck out his right boot in a bid to intercept the ball that went past him straight down.
Hardik was later seen limping towards his run-up amid huge cheers from the crowd. Even though he had made up his mind to bowl, skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli seemed to intervene in the final moment, and the duo asked him to leave the field.
Kohli bowled the final three deliveries of the over, much to the joy of the Pune crowd.
The BCCI later put out a statement, saying, “Hardik Pandya’s injury is being assessed at the moment, and he is being taken for scans.”