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Virat Kohli remarked that he only wanted to “hang
on till the end and finish off the game” after India defeated Bangladesh
by seven wickets in Pune to win the 2023 ODI World Cup after recording his 48th
ODI century. On 97 balls, Kohli scored 103 runs while remaining unbeaten,
achieving the magic number with a six to score the winning runs.
“I wanted to make a big contribution. I have had
a few fifties in World Cups, and I have never really converted them so I just
wanted to finish the game off this time around. Yeah, hang on till the end
which is what I have done over the years for the team,” Kohli, who was
awarded the Player-Of-The-Match award said.
Since scoring 107 against Pakistan in Adelaide,
Australia in 2015, Kohli had not yet reached a century in an ODI World Cup
match. Since then, he has amassed seven half-centuries, but until today, he had
never reached the three-figure mark. And it’s appropriate that it happened in
Pune, where his average after eight innings is 78.71.
Though it seemed unlikely for the longest time that
Kohli would reach triple digits. India, who was chasing 257, had reached 229
for 3 at the end of the 38th over and still needed 28 runs to win. Kohli’s
score at this moment was 73. India needed 20 runs to win, Kohli needing the
same for a ton. Kohli needed one off the first two balls of the 39th over,
while KL Rahul needed two runs off the first delivery.
At this point, Kohli started to take risks. Before
smacking Nasum Ahmed for a four and a six, he pumped Hasan Mahmud into the
long-on stands. As the target drew nearer, the pair even declined singles,
turning down five of them roughly over the course of three overs. Kohli, who
was at 97 at the time, then crushed Nasum for a six over deep midwicket to give
India the victory in the 42nd over.
Earlier, Mahmud gave Kohli two easy knocks right away,
which he promptly crushed for a four and a six to get his innings going. Kohli
couldn’t have asked for a better start.
“I was telling Shubman [Gill] that even if you
dream about a situation like that you just go back to sleep, you won’t think it
is real,” Kohli said. “It was a dream start for me, first four balls
two free hits a six and four, just calms you down and just gets you into the
innings. The pitch was pretty good and it allowed me to play my game…just
time the ball hit the gaps, run hard and get the boundaries wherever
needed.”