‘You want your milestone but not at the cost of the team’: Pujara takes swipe at Kohli’s approach vs Bangladesh
Team India’s talismanic batter Virat Kohli played a superb knock against Bangladesh as he scored a match-winning 103* off 97 balls. Riding on his effort after a solid start by skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, India completed the 257-run chase in 41.3 overs and won the match by seven wickets. (Follow | England vs South Africa Live Score, Cricket World Cup 2023)
Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli
Despite delivering a clinical performance, Kohli’s approach has drawn mixed reactions from experts. With the match almost sealed and Kohli approaching towards the milestone, the former India captain kept most of the strike and finished the match with a six, which also helped him reach his 48th ODI ton.
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While few lauded Kohli’s fitness and had no complaints about his approach, many raised the net run-rate (NRR) factor, warning it could come to bite the team at the business end of the tournament.
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Cheteshwar Pujara during an interaction with ESPNCricinfo echoed similar views, and asked players to keep individual targets aside and focus on team’s collective interest.
“As much as I wanted Virat Kohli to score that hundred, you have to keep in mind, you want to finish the game as early as possible. You want your Net Run Rate to be at the top. If you are in a position where you are fighting for the Net Run Rate, then you don’t want to look back and say ‘you could have done that’,” said Pujara.
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“That’s where I feel that as a collective decision, maybe you have to sacrifice a bit. You want to look at the team, you want to put the team first, that’s how I look at it. You want your milestone, but not at the cost of the team. As a player, you always have a choice. But some players feel if they get a hundred, it helps them in the next game. So it depends on what kind of mindset you have,” he added.
Pujara, however, appreciated Kohli’s understanding of the pitch and lauded him for standing firm despite the track getting slower. “The pitch was getting slower and slower, and it was becoming more difficult to bat. So, Virat slowed down a bit to make sure that he didn’t get out. And it worked out for him, because he was able to get a century,” he said.
India have so far won all the matches they’ve played and will now lock horns with New Zealand, who are also unbeaten in the tournament. The match will be played at Dharamsala on Sunday.
