Despite Virat Kohli’s clean and brilliant performance, Kohli’s approach during the match has definitely triggered many criticisms among the players and other experts.
Team India’s one of the most remarkable batsmen, Virat Kohli has given one of his best performances against Bangladesh by scoring 48th century of his cricket career. Kohli played a superb knock against Bangladesh as he scored a match-winning 103* off 97 balls. The match was superbly started by Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, and with the efforts of Kolhi, India completed the 257-run chase in 41.3 overs and won the match by seven wickets.
In spite of this historic win, Kohli’s approach has drawn mixed reactions from experts. While approaching the win, Kohli avoided taking singles and desperately wanted to achieve his milestone and finished the match with a six, which also helped him reach his 48th ODI ton.
Kohli’s achievement has been lauded by few, but some complained that it could come to bite the team at the business end of the tournament. But KL Rahul, who was batting alongside Kohli, later revealed that it was he who denied the singles to Kohli, allowing him to reach his century. While Chetashwar Pujara, during a recent interaction with the media, asked the players to keep individual targets aside and focus on the team’s collective interest.
“As much as I wanted Virat Kohli to score that hundred, you have to keep in mind that you want to finish the game as early as possible. You want your Net Run Rate to be at the top. If you are in a position where you are fighting for the Net Run Rate, then you don’t want to look back and say, ‘you could have done that”, said Pujara.
Pujara also lauded Kohli’s remarkable performance and understanding of the pitch and lauded him for standing firm despite the track getting slower. “The pitch was getting slower and slower, and it was becoming more difficult to bat. So, Virat slowed down a bit to make sure that he didn’t get out. And it worked out for him because he was able to get a century,” Pujara said.
So far, India has won all the matches they’ve played and will now face New Zealand, who are also unbeaten in the tournament. The match will be played at Dharamsala on Sunday, 22nd Oct 2023.
