World Cup: India defeats Bangladesh to secure their fourth successive victory
Virat Kohli proved why he is one of the best chasers in world cricket with a well-paced unbeaten century after spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav stifled the Bangladesh innings as India romped to a seven-wicket win with 51 balls to spare in Match 17 of ICC Men's ODI World Cup. Kohli, playing a well-controlled inning, raised 44 runs for the second wicket with Shubman Gill (53), who also scored a half-century and an unbeaten 83-run partnership with KL Rahul, who scored a run-a-ball 34, as India reached 261/3 in 41.3 overs after restricting Bangladesh to 256/8 in 50 overs.
India started their chase of 257 as they have done so far in this World Cup, with skipper Rohit Sharma taking the attack to the bowlers as they raised 88 runs for the opening partnership. The India skipper lived in the fast lane as he first creamed Shoriful Islam for four through points and then flayed a wide one past the backward point in the first over. Rohit then blasted the 22-year-old left-arm pacer for a four and six in the third over, making the most of two poor deliveries bowled by the Bangladesh bowler.
Rohit struck four more boundaries, two off Nasum Ahmed and one-off Shoriful and Mahmud, who tried to pepper the 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 but perished trying to repeat the shot off the next delivery. The ball caught the toe-end of his bat and ended up sitting for an easy catch for Towhid Hridoy at the deep square-leg fence. Rohit's 48 came off 40 balls and contained four boundaries and two maximums, and the skipper was unhappy at not being able to execute the shot as he wanted to.
Gill continued flourishing at the other end as he completed his maiden half-century in the World Cup, coming off 53 balls (5x4, 2x6). Gill started with a sweetly-times boundary off Mustafizur Rahim's first delivery. He nearly chopped Nasum Ahmed onto his wickets in the fourth over before opening his arms with two straight sixes off the left-arm orthodox spinner over long-on. Three fours, two off successive deliveries in the 12th over by Mustafizur, propelled him towards his fifty. But when it looked like the batter from Chandigarh would go on and score a big on, he holed on to Mahmudullah at midwicket off 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, scoring 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) returned 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 returned well in the death overs to claim two wickets a piece, though Siraj was a tad expensive at 2-60 off ten overs.
