C T Online Desk: Bangladesh suffered their third loss on the trot as they were crushed by hosts India by seven wickets in their fourth game of the ICC World Cup 2023 in Pune on Thursday.
Batting first, Bangladesh could only muster a meagre 256-8 on a batting paradise, with only Liton Das (66) and Tanzid Hasan Tamim (51) hitting fifties.
Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, and Mohammad Siraj picked up two wickets each for India.
In reply, India cruised to the total with 51 balls in hand, courtesy of an unbeaten 103 from Virat Kohli, while Shubhman Gill (53) also hit a fifty.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz picked up a couple of wickets for Bangladesh, while Hasan Mahmud picked up the other.
Following the defeat, the Tigers now only have two points from four matches, while India have won all four.
With regular skipper Shakib Al Hasan out with an injury, the captaincy was bestowed upon Nazmul Hossain Shanto, who opted to bat first.
The openers seemingly proved his decision to be correct, as after three consecutive failures, Bangladesh finally found a solid opening partnership with Liton and Tanzid adding 93 runs.
This was Bangladesh’s highest opening partnership in their World Cup history, breaking the record of 69 runs set by Mehrab Hossain and Shahriar Hossain in 1999.
Both hit fifties, as Tanzid reached his off 41 balls, while Liton took 62. This was also the first time that both Bangladesh openers went past fifty in a World Cup match.
However, after Tanzid was trapped lbw off Kuldeep Yadav, Bangladesh lost momentum as Shanto (8) and Mehidy (3) fell cheaply, and the added pressure also saw Liton depart trying to slog Jadeja.
While Mushfiqur Rahim (38) tried to up the ante once again, Towhid Hridoy, who used 35 balls to score 16 runs, continued stagnating the momentum, meaning Bangladesh could never make use of their early start.
It was only a 46-run knock off 36 balls by Mahmudullah that took Bangladesh near 250, and a six off the last ball by Shoriful Islam saw them post 256-8.
India, in the chase, were straight away flying off the blocks as Rohit Sharma (48) and Gill added 88 runs in just 76 balls before Hasan got the former with a short delivery.
However, Gill continued on his rich vein of form and picked up yet another fifty, before a great catch from Mahmudullah at the boundary off Mehidy’s bowling saw him return.
Shreyas Iyer (19), trying to send the ball out of the ground, got out to the same partnership.
From there, Kohli formed an 83-run partnership with KL Rahul (34 not out) to pick up his 48th ODI century and ensure that India reached home comfortably to pick up their fourth win in a row.
