Four in a row: India beats Bangladesh by 7 wickets
In the third ball of the 42nd over of the chase, Virat Kohli came down the pitch, took the ball on the full from Nasum Ahmed and launched it into the stands over midwicket to seal a comfortable India win, and a century.
With four wins in as many games, India are now on track to romp into the semifinals even if this is early in the tournament. When Kohli walked out to bat, on
the day, India were already well placed at 88 for 1.
Rohit Sharma had done most of the damage with his perfect pulls and punch squaredrives while Shubman Gill gave him company.
A target of 257 was never going to be tricky on a belter of a batting pitch in Pune, but the manner in which Rohit and Gill went after the bowling suggested that it was best to get runs in early on. Rohit was spectacular, he drove deliciously through the off side.
And when the bowler felt that full and straight would not work, out came the pulland the hook.
Rohit has the air of a teddy bear about him, all fuzzy and cuddly, but when you drop short, he is all grizzly, dismissing the ball from his presence off front foot or back. The pull is a shot that all modern Indian batsmen play well, but the hook has not been played this well since Sunil Gavaskar.
Rohit raced off the blocks, intimidating Bangladesh, with Gill providing perfect company, but when the chased one short ball too many from outside off to cart over the onside, he opened a door.
Rohit’s 48 set the tone, and Gill was happy to join hands with Kohli.
To begin with, Kohli was circumspect, he was careful, but he was looking to pounce.
Over the last decade, Kohli has been the alpha male, the batsman who has stamped his authority on the game and frazzled the opposition. In this World Cup, you can sense a subtle
