Four in a row: India beat Bangladesh by 7 wickets

In the third ball of the 42nd over of the chase, Virat Kohli came down the pitch, took the ball on the full from Nasum Ahmed and launched it into the stands over midwicket to seal a comfortable India win, and a century.

With four wins in as many games, India are now on track to romp into the semifinals even if this is early in the tournament. When Kohli walked out to bat, on the day, India were already well placed at 88 for 1. Rohit Sharma had done most of the damage with his perfect pulls and punch squaredrives while Shubman Gill gave him company.


A target of 257 was never going to be tricky on a belter of a batting pitch in Pune, but the manner in which Rohit and Gill went after the bowling suggested that it was best to get runs in early on. Rohit was spectacular, he drove deliciously through the off side. And when the bowler felt that full and straight would not work, out came the pulland the hook.

Rohit has the air of a teddy bear about him, all fuzzy and cuddly, but when you drop short, he is all grizzly, dismissing the ball from his presence off front foot or back. The pull is a shot that all modern Indian batsmen play well, but the hook has not been played this well since Sunil Gavaskar.

Rohit raced off the blocks, intimidating Bangladesh, with Gill providing perfect company, but when the chased one short ball too many from outside off to cart over the onside, he opened a door.

Rohit’s 48 set the tone, and Gill was happy to join hands with Kohli. To begin with, Kohli was circumspect, he was careful, but he was looking to pounce.

Over the last decade, Kohli has been the alpha male, the batsman who has stamped his authority on the game and frazzled the opposition. In this World Cup, you can sense a subtle shift.

Here was a different Kohli, not a batsman who wanted to own a game or the World Cup and yet one who knew exactly what he needed to get a hundred when the game was decided.

Kohli got to a World Cup hundred, and he may well score a more influential one before this tournament is done, but he has marked his ground.

Rohit and Gill screaming away at the top means you need a banker to follow, and Kohli has been that. He’s got every shot in the book, and then some, but Kohli has a more valuable skill, which is sensing the tempo of the game and playing accordingly.

Nobody runs harder between the wickets than Kohli and this opens up an avenue to keep things in check in a chase when the target is not massive.

Truth be told, Bangladesh lost the game in the first half when they won the toss and chose to bat first. The conservative approach from the openers would have been warranted had they had some serious firepower to follow. Tanzid Hasan (51) was careful to begin with but later showed his range with some languid shots and Litton Das (66) knew what he was doing, but the two took 14.4 overs to add 93.

From here on India’s spinners came on and the choke was on. Kuldeep Yadav broke into international cricket as a wrist spinner who turned the ball extravagantly but did not have much control. He played for India with some success alongside Rahul Chahar but soon slipped away.

The Kuldeep of today barely attempts to turn the ball. Rather he bowls at pace, attacking the stumps non-stop inviting batsmen to take the risk. After getting Tanzid, Kuldeep choked the runs in the middle overs, finishing his 10 overs conceding only 47 runs. On a flat pitch, this was nothing short of gold dust.

At the other end Ravindra Jadeja was wheeling away, spearing the ball into the pads. With Hardik Pandya off the field having turned his left ankle, the important thing was to get the job done. And who else but Jadeja to turn to?

Just when he was looking dangerous, Litton Das (66) holed out to long off taking on Jadeja and even with a late 46 from Mahmadullah, 256/8 was the best Bangladesh could muster on a belter of a batting pitch.