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Team India cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara had an interesting point of view on Virat Kohli refusing to take singles against Bangladesh in order to complete his 48th ODI century on October 19 (Thursday). Pujara underlined the importance of finishing matches as early as possible and keeping the Net Run Rate (NRR) up in tournaments like the ODI World Cup.
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"As much as I want Virat to score that 100 but you have to keep in mind that you want to finish the game as early as possible because you want your NRR to be at the top. If you get into a situation where, you know, you are fighting for the NRR, then you don't want to look back and then (think) 'we could have done that," said Pujara on ESPNcricinfo.
Former Australia batter Matthew Hayden also echoed Pujara's sentiments while commenting on the route taken by Kohli to complete his century against Bangladesh.
"My initial reaction was, you know what, he has earned the right to get a hundred. The only thing is, you got to be very careful in these tournaments because you just never know and the great Ian Bishop often talks about this NRR's, these things matter and the sporting gods are a sinister mob," said Hayden.
What happened against Bangladesh?
It was a classic Virat Kohli run chase for Team India on Thursday when they took down Bangladesh by seven wickets at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune in an ODI World Cup clash. From timing a cover drive to timing a century, Kohli displayed impeccable game awareness and was dully assisted by his partner-in-crime KL Rahul. In the end, over a million fans got their wishes granted as Kohli not only completed his century but remained unbeaten on 103 runs off 97 balls.
Kohli refused to take singles on several occasions as the runs needs for him to complete his century and for India to win the match were the same during the dying stages of the match.
At one point in time, it appeared as if not enough runs were left in the run chase for Kohli to complete his century and even it seemed like the Bangladesh bowlers did not want Kohli to get to the milestone. On two occasions they bowled wide deliveries and tried to rob the former Indian skipper of a well-deserved hundred. However, umpire Richard Kettleborough identified what they were trying to do and gave Kohli a chance to get to the three figures.
While the first wide was called by the square leg umpire in Hasan Mahmud's over, in the next over umpire umpire Richard Kettleborough took matters into his own hands. Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed bowled from round the wicket and fired the ball down the leg side. Kohli let the ball go into wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim's gloves. He was visibly frustrated by the spinner's tactics. But umpire Kettleborough did not call it a wide. Kohli then decided to finish it off early and finished the match with a six to get to his century.
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