Kohli leads charge as India dominate against Bangladesh

India 261 for 3 (Kohli 103*, Gill 53) beat Bangladesh 256 for 8 (Liton 66, Tanzid Hasan 51, Jadeja 2-38) by seven wickets

Pune: Virat Kohli starred as India made it four wins from four at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, with the number three reaching his century with the winning runs to wrap up a convincing seven-wicket win.

Kohli held the chase together after a strong start from the India openers, finishing 103* from 97 balls and reaching his hundred with a six to wrap up the win.

Kohli’s role wasn’t just limited to the match-defining contribution with the bat, as he also made a rare appearance with the ball, sending down three medium-pace deliveries after Hardik Pandya suffered an injury.

Victory for India leaves them joint top of the table with New Zealand, with both teams having won all four of their games to date.

India made a rapid start in search of their target of 257, hitting 63 without loss in the first powerplay, with Rohit looking in particularly excellent form as he raced to 37 from his first 33 balls.

Hasan Mahmud helped relieve some of the pressure when he dismissed the Indian skipper just short of a half-century, with Rohit caught for 48.

But Kohli’s arrival did little to slow the scoring, with the number three slamming two early boundaries to ramp up the run rate.

Shubman Gill reached a classy half-century before departing for 53 to Mehidy Hasan Miraz.

But Shreyas Iyer and Kohli steadied the ship to help India to 161/2 at the midway point of their allocated overs, well in control of the chase.

Earlier, Bangladesh's stand-in skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto called it right at the toss and chose to bat first, revealing that his side were without two key players, with both Shakib Al Hasan and Taskin Ahmed ruled out through injury.

But a weakened Tigers team got off to an impressive start thanks to openers Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das.

After a careful opening five overs that yielded just ten runs, the Bangladesh openers picked up the pace and built a sizeable partnership to set a decent platform for their side.

With India struggling to create chances, the host nation suffered an additional scare when Hardik Pandya hurt his ankle while trying to stop a ball in his run-up, and was taken off the field.

Kohli completed Pandya’s over, much to the delight of the Pune crowd.

But all-rounder Pandya did not bowl again in the innings and was taken for scans on his injury, which could be a concern for India as the tournament progresses.

India regrouped in the second powerplay, and, as they have often done in this tournament, the India tweakers stemmed the flow of runs and provided crucial breakthroughs.

Kuldeep Yadav struck first to trap Tanzid lbw in the 15th over for an impressive 51 from 43 balls.

And it was Ravindra Jadeja's turn to provide the next blow, as he got skipper Najmul (8) trapped in front in the 20th over.

Bangladesh’s strong start continued to unravel as Rohit returned to his pacers, with Mehidy Hasan Miraz (3) falling to a brilliant catch from KL Rahul off Mohammed Siraj in the 25th over.

Between the tenth over and the mid-innings mark, Bangladesh had added just 68 runs for the loss of three crucial wickets. And the heightened run rate pressure eventually got to Das, who hit a Jadeja delivery to long-off in the 28th over to depart for a top-scoring 66.

India’s seamers came back to restrict Bangladesh’s late push in the death overs, with Shardul Thakur removing the limpet-like Towhid Hridoy for a 35-ball 16.

And Bumrah took the key wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim for 38 to hurt the Tigers’ chances of a late flurry.

Siraj, returning after a scare over a finger injury, removed Nasum Ahmed as the innings approached its close.

But the excellent Mahmudullah boosted Bangladesh to a total that at least gave the team’s bowlers something to work with, slamming 46 from 36 balls, before being cleaned up by a brilliant Bumrah delivery in the final over of the innings.

Finishing on 256/8, Bangladesh’s bowlers had plenty of work to do, and were unable to stop a dominant Indian top five from steaming to a comfortable win.