The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Chasemasterclosesinonthemaster
Kohli scores his 48th ODI ton to move within touching distance of Tendulkar’s record 49 as India outclass B'desh in seven-wicket win
Hardik Pandya in pain after he slipped while trying to stop a four.
HARDIK PANDYA who was injured during the match against Bangladesh, has been taken for scans, the BCCI said on Thursday. Themediumpaceallrounderhadlimpedoff afterputtinghisrightfoottostopadrivefrom Bangladesh’s Liton Das and the team management will be hoping that the injury isn’t serious. In a medical update, the BCCI said: "Hardik Pandya's injury is being assessed at themomentandheisbeingtakenforscans".
Avitalcoginthewheel, Pandya’sskillset at the highest level – effective with difficult to pick up bouncers, the surprise heavy ball andabilitytocleartheropes– makeshimviral to the playing XI’S balance.
Hardik lost his balance while trying to stopwhatwasafouroffhisownbowlingand then lost his balance and dragged his right boot while landing on the pitch. He got up andlookedindiscomfortwhilebendingover. Soon the physio was out in the middle and two senior players Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma were by his side. Play was stoppedfornearlyfiveminutesasthephysio strappedhisankle. Hardikwasbackandtried to run but started to hobble. It was clear he wouldhavetogooff afterbowlingjustthree deliveries, two of which went for fours.
The Pune crowd began cheering when Kohli was tasked with bowling the incomplete Hardik over – three balls. Kohli concededjustrowsingles. Toaddtoindia’swoes, Shardul Thakur’s next over, the 10th of the innings, went for 16 runs. Thakur is India’s next best pace bowling allrounder after Hardikbutisnotinthesameclassaspandya.
Pandyahadsufferedabackinjurypostthe 2019 World Cup and even after making a comeback he initially didn’t bowl and then wasonlyreliedontobowlshortspells. During this year’s IPL Hardik kept a check on the numberofovershebowled– 25in16games – but spoke about increasing his bowling workload.“iamaturtlerightnowandnotthe rabbit. Hoping everything goes right as the World Cup comes,” Hardik had said.
Pavan Khengre
GOING BY his reaction on reaching his ton, it was evident that the unbeaten hundred meant a lot to Virat Kohli. On 97, with India needingthreeforwin, herefusedasingleafter driving to long-on. His partner KL Rahul, whohadnarrowlymissedahundredagainst Australia, was more than happy to stay put athisendbeforekohliwhackedthenextball from the spinner Nasum Ahmed over wide midwicket to bring up his landmark.
Withasmilingmushfiqurrahimwatching intently at him from behind the stumps, heraisedhisbatashetookafewstepsdown pitchbeforetheemotionssuddenlyflooded him: he turned, bowed his head, let out a huge roar.
“Sorryforstealingit(playerof thematch award) from Jaddu, I wanted to make a big contribution,” hewouldsaylater.“ihavehad afewfiftiesinworldcups, haven'treallyconverted(hehastwoworldcuphundredsbefore this match one each against Pakistan and Bangladesh). I just wanted to finish off thegamethistimearoundandhangaround till the end which is what I have done over the years.”
Nowthatstayingtilltheendisreturning, as he wished, the signature Kohli shot - the brutalbottom-handpoweredswat-flickwith which he drags even outside-off deliveries from pacers to legside boundary, that has gonemissingforsometime, toocanperhaps be expected to make a comeback. Going by hisformandrhythminhis103from97balls, the reappearance of one of the memorable strokes of modern-day cricket can't be that far away.
However, thesedayskohlihashadother pressing matters. His focus has been on another shot. Kohli had got out twice to pull shots in the World Cup.
A few minutes before the toss, he was at the batting net - in Pune, it’s all out in the main ground in full public view, practising his pull. With a support-staff member throwinghimthroat-highballs, hewhacked the pulls into the net on the leg side. It wasn’t mimicking the actual short balls; they weren’t bounced but tossed straight and it was more about getting his bat-swing right for the shot.
Even when he waited in the dug-out for histurn, thepunditsontelevisionweretalking about Kohli and the pull shot. He muttered under his breath and flashed a knowing smile as the split-screen images of pull shots from him and Rohit Sharma were displayed on the big screen. He knew the television game being played. After twice cutting to him, when the cameras returned to him, he put his helmeted head down and stayed in the pose for a while.
When he went to bat, ironically after Rohithadpulledstraighttodeepsquare-leg, he copped a few short ones.
Itledtooneiffymomentwhenhetriedto fetch a Mustafizur Rehman bouncer from outsideoff, andmiscuedittamelybutsafely to the untenanted short mid-on region. He didn’t have any issues with the other short balls- oftenswayingaway, andoncecrunching to the midwicket boundary.
As always, he played the situation perfectly. In the absence of Hardik Pandya, he
INDIA BANGLADESH
MCA STADIUM, PUNE Toss: Bangladesh, chose to bat BANGLADESH knewtherewasnouseplayingtothegallery, and instead focused on sewing up the chase without much flutter. Especially after the openersandshreyasiyerfell, goingformaximums.
Kohli had gotten off to an unusually frenetic start courtesy couple of free-hit freebiesfromhasanthathedulylooted10runs. Fromthenon, itwaslikewatchingare-runof Kohliknock- thepulsatingrunning, thepinging of the gaps, the working of the angles, andthesmartstoknowwhichbowlertotarget and when.
Couple of chances came his way in this innings to unfurl the swat flick - a full toss that he couldn’t quite snap his wrists as violently as before. There was a whipped six, thoughoff asloweroneoff Hasanmahmud, who had bounced out Rohit.
Mutant form of flick
The bottom hand kicked in and the mutant form of the flick sent the white ball flyingoverwidelong-on; buttheswat-flickfans won’t count it as they were used to seeing the shot against the pacy deliveries far too often in the past. But perhaps it’s all par for thecourseforkohliatthisstageinhiscareer - fewer risks, unless the situation demands anadrenalin-infusedshotsof doom Itisbad news for the bowlers, Kohli has turned back the clock, finishing games, and the brutal swat flick too seems round the corner. Then the Kohli re-run will be really on.