Pune: India won against Bangladesh by seven wickets with 8.3 overs to spare, but the story got entirely overshadowed by the two-odd-over 80 to 100 run-chase by Virat Kohli at the fag-end of the match, the platform for this acquisition that a lordly K L Rahul handed to him by stepping back, and the 48th century that the Delhi star recorded on a pleasant and breezy night at the MCA.
The shift of focus from the Indian bowlers, to the Rohit blitzkrieg to the Gill footwork, to any and every conversation around this match happened almost stealthily when the new little master walked in to carry on the campaign given to him by a walking Rohit. This is how, the master chaser constructed folklore at Pune, his favourite hunting ground where he now has three centuries for the history books.
At a happening strike rate of 106.18, with six boundaries and four sixes in 97 balls, and 26,000 runs across formats now – the Kohli epic is just about peaking and the fireworks that lit up the horizon were second only to the balanced, well-paced, sound and solid ton that Kohli took home without any fuss or fury.
Kohli now is just a century behind the great man Sachin Tendulkar and the way he is going about it, looks doable in this World Cup itself as the chants for him get as hysterical and loud as they used to be for his idol Sachin. A humble but ecstatic Player of the Match Kohli later said with a big smile that he was sorry for stealing the Player of the Match award from Jaddu. “Have made fifties in World Cups, wanted to finish it off this time. The pitch was good and allowed me to play my game - hit the gaps and find the boundaries whenever I could. There is a great atmosphere in the dressing room.
"The spirit is there for everyone to see,” he said. Down the line, Kohli’s century is the jewel in the crown of Team India and its awe-inspiring wins in the home Cup thus far. The reigning star of sublime shots, the rising star of wristy fabrications and the north star of grounded beauties – that’s how the top three of the Indian batting line-up shape defence strategies. More often than not, the delivery has been as per plan and the contest against Bangladesh displayed this as organically as India’s win against a neighbour who often becomes its surprising Achilles heel.
That India won, may have been a foregone conclusion when Bangladesh scored just 256 runs on a wicket asking for 350. All three – Sharma, Gill and Kohli – recording half-centuries pegged on healthy strike rates means there is one management that won’t mind being top-heavy, especially today when the worrying absence of Hardik Pandya was cloaked with an amazing show by the top three, not leaving much for middlemen like Hardik to work on.
Thanks to the solid display of its batters, India have so far won all their matches with thumping margins. They chased down the Aussies with eight overs to spare, packing off Afghanistan in just 35 overs and giving Pakistan room for introspection, beating them in the 31st over itself.
From here, India, with 4 on 4 score and a presence on the top of the points tally, goes to Dharamsala to match up with the Kiwis who had thrown them out of the 2019 World Cup to the heartbreak of billion plus at home and one Mr MS Dhoni in the middle from where he had to take a lonely and long walk out of cricket.
This time, however, India looks more sorted in all departments, a fact sported with elan at Pune. The brief skirmishes that Bangladesh batters Tanzid Hasan with his quickfire 50 and Litton Das with a stable able 66 showed after winning the toss and electing to bat, was handled well by the Indian bowlers.
Kuldeep as the master starter of wicket-taking, Bumrah with his perfection in all time slots beginning to death, and Siraj taking care of the middle over fertility rate, it was a clean playing field constructed for Sharma to display his artillery without fear. The charge of the blue brigade started in the second ball of the first over itself with the irrepressible skipper Rohit Sharma breaching cover point to reach the boundary to set the tone of the evening’s proceeds.
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Another four two balls later, this time flirting with the finger of the jumping fielder. The third slammer by Sharma came through point in the 3rd over after Gill had wristed one across mid-wicket. Sublime Sharma’s pick for the torture chamber was Shoriful Islam. And then came what everyone was waiting for – a sublime pull over deep backward square leg with Islam smarting as the effortless six has the spectators at level 2 scampering for the ball. Next in the array was the sweep shot, the ball making a point at deep square leg and Nasum this time being at the receiving end of a class act with the bat.
The delightful part of the campaign was aggression being ably tempered with caution when required. A lot many straight bats frustrated the Bangladesh bowlers looking for some or any wantonness in the Indian attack, finding none. Gill, from the other end, calmly looked for opportunities to paint a canvas of footwork to lift the ball over the bowler’s head in an outstanding six shortly after packing off Mushfiqur to a boundary through backward point.
His tapestry of shots, be it the back-to-back beauties past extra cover and mid-wicket, or, the one he steered through backward point as Mustafizur looked distraught, were as delightful as Rohit’s short ball sixes. But the skipper fell short in one execution at deep square leg and was caught two short of his half-century, walking in disgust and anger at falling into the hands of Towhid Hridoy.
India was 88 and the over was 12.4. Bangladesh’s bowling coach Alan Donald, lounging at the boundary, was all applause for Hasan Mahmud and his prized trophy. It would have been Sharma’s second 50 in four matches thus far, something that peeved the Hitman extraordinaire who was doing an amazing rope trick in the middle with seven boundaries and two sixes when he fell.
Not that master chaser, sheet anchor, and insurance agent of India’s fortune Virat Kohli let up the pressure. He transited seamlessly into the hitting jamboree at the top. As if to make Mahmud pay, he scored 23 runs in his Rohit-taking over with two no-balls, two sixes and a couple of fours besides a scampering single.
Gill, meanwhile, quietly got his 50 in 52 balls and did so under the shine and sparkle of his skipper and then Kohli. It was a well-paced half-century speaking of maturity, class and soundness of the bat. However, an aerial shooter was nabbed by Mahmudullah brilliantly to send Gill to the pavilion at 53.
With India at 132 in the 20th over, Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan Miraz started seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. Some overs later, Shreyas Iyer lofted a life to the Bangladesh bowler Miraz when he decided to pump up his bat with some fuel but got caught off guard by the spin and landed straight into the hands of Mahmudullah much short of the boundary. India at 178-3 in 28.3 overs did not need such untimed bravado on a day when the skipper would have been happier to have wrapped up the match without losing a wicket and recording his second century as a tribute to the pitch at MHA.
Somewhere down the line, the indomitable spirit of K L Rahul started to peep out like early morning sunrays in a hill town. His flat six off Mamudullah when singles and a steamed down pace of runs being orchestrated by Kohli, brought back the vuvuzelas in the stands. His contribution has been consistent in India’s World Cup campaign thus far.
As was the case with the opening match against Australia, Rahul’s contribution of 34 runs got eclipsed by Kohli’s watchful but scintillating century full of an amazing range of powerful shots. But tonight was Kohli’s night and he was its knight in shining armour.
