Bangladesh Deserve A Lot Of Credit For The Fight They Put Up: Virat Kohli

Team Indian, on Tuesday, beat Bangladesh by 28 runs to become the second team after Australia to enter the semifinal. The Men in Blue also returned to winning ways with this win and will now be looking to end the league phase on the high when they taken on Sri Lanka. Virat Kohli & Co. will be aiming to enter the semifinal with the momentum on their side.

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Rohit Sharma once again starred with the bat, scoring the fourth century of this tournament as India posted 314 for 9. India were looking well set to post well in excess of 300 after their openers Rohit and KL Rahul added 180 runs for the first wicket. However, riding on Mustafizur Rahman‘s 5-wicket haul, Bangladesh managed to pull things back and restrict India to 314.

? "What a way to end a cricket match!"@Jaspritbumrah93 goes bang ? bang ? to end an exciting clash against Bangladesh at Edgbaston #TeamIndia #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/lvorQK66UZ

— ICC (@ICC) July 2, 2019

In reply, Bangladesh were all out for 286. The Tigers were looking well in contention at one stage when Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim were batting. However, once Rahim departed, Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Shakib did manage to score another fifty but he too failed to convert it into a big score. Towards the end, Mohammad Saifuddin and Sabbir Rahman threatened India but the latter’s pacers did well. Jasprit Bumrah then ended the game by dismissing Rubel Hossain and Mustafizur on consecutive balls.

Speaking at the end of the match, Virat Kohli lauded Bangladesh for their fine performance in the tournament before expressing his delight over making it to the last four.

“I mean Bangladesh has played some really good cricket in the tournament. They deserve a lot of credit for the fight they put up, even till the last wicket I think they were in the game. We had to work hard for the win but very happy that we saw ‘Q’ (Qualified) in front of the team in the table now,” said Virat Kohli.

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“Another game as an opportunity for us to do the same things we have done so far in the tournament, and I think that will keep us in the frame of mind heading towards the semi-final. And as I said, we are really really happy that we qualified for the semi-final with one more game to go,” he added.

Kohli also went on to hail his teammate Rohit Sharma as the best ODI player. He also had some words of praise for Jasprit Bumrah.

“I have been watching it for years now, I have been saying it publicly, in my opinion Rohit is the best One-day player. When he plays, we are heading towards a big score and really happy with the way he’s playing,” said Virat Kohli.

Hitman @ImRo45 is our player of the Match for his outstanding century against Bangladesh ?????? #BANvIND #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/9dAxD7iknh

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 2, 2019

“Bumrah’s overs were always going to be crucial, you can bank on him. He’s the number 1 bowler at the moment and he can execute his plans. We can look to capitalise on situations when you can get those extra 30 runs. Very happy with the way the team has played, Sri Lanka is also a good side so would like to continue playing well against them. Really happy with the crowd, thank you guys!,” he added.