King Kohli

Before facing the Indians in the group stage match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 — Bangladesh had a praiseworthy record against them. The Tigers beat them in an ODI series last year and a few months back, they held their nerves to beat the mighty Indians in the Super 4 of the Asia Cup. In a fascinating week where Afghanistan and the Netherlands punched above their weight — surely, Bangladesh thought that they might punch the Indians again if they could post a competitive total and pick the important wickets early on.

The start to the Bangladesh innings — minus the unfit Shakib Al Hasan — was good. The openers built a very good foundation and whenever there was a chance of a collapse as the Indian spinners took the upper hand led by Ravindra Jadeja — they did not let the ghost of Pakistan take place, rather, arrested it with good partnerships. Litton Das, Tanzid Hasan Mahmudullah Riyadh, and Mushfiqur Rahim helped Bangladesh post 256 for 8 — but when the Bangladeshis came out to bowl at Pune — the Indians showed why they are rated as the best in the business.

Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma batted as if they were playing with friends in the gully of Old Dhaka with no ultra-pressure — effortless strokes came out off the middle bat and the ball consistently vanished beyond the boundary rope. The Bangladeshis did trigger a breakthrough but they had no answer to the hunger and class of Virat Kohli.

The Bangladeshi tried to bowl the line along off-stump, pitched it up, attempted to dry up the runs, and attempted variations — sadly, nothing could the chase artist, whose hunger for runs and the ability to chase down totals at ease just don’t put the viewers in monotony, but in every match, they become even better to watch.

Kohli had two free hits off his first four balls that he converted into a boundary and a six and from there on, he didn’t look back. He drove well, ran hard, maneuvered spin expertly, and also treaded caution, especially against Hasan Mahmud, and later on, smothered him all over the park.

82, 77, 67, 72, 66, 26, 34 not out, 1, 85, 55 no out, 16, and 103 not out — 684 runs at an average of 76.00 and at a strike rate of 94.47 with one century and seven half-centuries and 6 sixes and 58 boundaries — this is what Virat has done in the last 12 innings of Cricket World Cup.

It has now become a big challenge for the rest of the teams to stop this Indian team — the team that would outweigh India may just have the last laugh in this tournament.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar