India continued their unbeaten run in the ICC World Cup 2023 after their comfortable 7-wicket win over Bangladesh in Match 17 at the MCA stadium in Pune on Thursday.
Chasing a below-par 257 for victory, the Men in Blue raced to victory in just 41.3 overs thanks to swashbuckling knocks from Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill (53) and captain Rohit Sharma (48).
Rohit and Gill got India off to a flying start with their 88-run opening stand after which chase-master Kohli took over the proceedings in the middle.
Chasemaster Kohli does it again
The former skipper played a flawless innings to end up with the highest score of the match. He timed his hundred to perfection as he was on 97 with India needing just 2 runs to win.
Kohli stepped down the pitch and smashed off-spinner Nasum Ahmed's third delivery of the 42nd over for a massive six over mid-wicket to get to his 48th ODI hundred and finish the match.
India remain second on the points table behind New Zealand, who also have four wins on the trot but also have a better net run rate than the hosts.
Both India and New Zealand will play their next match against each other in Dharamasala on October 22.
King Kohli in 26K club
Kohli also completed 26,000 international runs across formats during his knock and became the first India to score 1,000 runs in ODI World Cups batting at No.3. This was Kohli's third World Cup hundred and first while chasing in ODI WC.
Kohli adjudged Player of the Match
"I wanted to make a big contribution. I have had a few fifties in World Cups, haven't really converted. I just wanted to finish off the game this time around and hang around till the end which is what I have done over the years.
"It was a dream start for me, first four balls, two free-hits, a six and a four. Just calms you down gets you into the innings. The pitch was pretty good and allowed me to play my game - just time the ball, hit the gaps, run hard and get the boundary whenever needed," Kohli said after being adjudged Player of the Match.
Bumrah, Jadeja star with the ball
Earlier in the day, India restricted Bangladesh to 256 for 8 after being put into bowl first in Pune. Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravindra Jadeja grabbed a couple of wickets each while Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur got one for India.
Litton Das top-scored for the visitors with 66 while fellow opener Tanzid Hasan made 51 while the experienced middle-order batters Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim contributed with 46 and 38 respectively for the visitors.
