Hands raised in jubilation, Virat Kohli punched the air with a clenched fist on reaching his 48th ODI hundred, his first in this World Cup.
It seemed a perfect script as India raced to a seven-wicket victory to make it four out of four on Thursday.
Two runs were needed off 54 balls with Kohli on 97. Nasum Ahmed fired his first ball down the leg-side, but umpire Richard Kettleborough declined the wide, potentially informed by Kohli’s frustrated glare from the striker’s end.
The next one was pushed to long on but Kohli and KL Rahul perhaps gave in to the combined wishes of the stadium.
Kohli was not willing to waste more deliveries and came up with vast swipe over deep mid-wicket for six off the next one. Mission accomplished, the stadium went wild.
The start was like a dream for Kohli, two free-hits off the first four balls which included a six and a four. He never looked back.
“I wanted to make a big contribution. I have had a few fifties in World Cups, but haven’t really converted them. I just wanted to finish the game this time around and hang on till the end,” said Kohli.
Kohli, in fact, was so eager to get the hundred that he focused on keeping the strike towards the closing stages of the chase. When India reached 223/3 at the end of 37 overs, Kohli was on 70. Thereafter, he did whatever he could to get the ton. The crowd raised the roof when Kohli hit the winning runs.
The 257-run target was never going to be stiff and Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill made it their own with a bold approach.
Drawing a fine line between aggression and not being drawn into a shell has helped the team convincingly chase down targets in all their four matches.
Once Rohit and Shubman departed, Kohli ruled. Rohit’s innings included a pulled six over long leg but three balls later departed in an attempted replay. But Kohli was ready to set the stage on fire.
It was assumed to be a 300-plus wicket and Bangladesh fell short by quite a distance.
India maintained their unputdownable and invincible tag once Rohit and Shubman gave them a rollicking start.
The match started with a sparse gathering but as the evening set in and the chase began, it was filled to a sea of blue, the official record putting it at 33600-plus.
Bangladesh were without Shakib-al Hasan and never got going though their openers put on a record 93-run stand.
Once Rohit set the momentum, Kohli drove his Lamborghini with finesse and uninterrupted swagger.
