“The King reigns supreme!”- Twitter erupts as Virat Kohli & KL Rahul smash half-centuries against Bangladesh; Kohli unlocks another milestone
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KL Rahul (L), Virat Kohli (R)
In India’s crucial match, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul struck half-centuries to drive their team to 184/6 on Wednesday [November 2] at the Adelaide Oval. India will have to win this to get their ticket to the semi-final.
Coming to the toss, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and elected to field first. Indian openers Rahul and Rohit Sharma entered the crease to start the innings, but played sluggishly till Rahul started opening his arms for big shots.
The openers gave full respect to Taskin Ahmed- who can scalp big wickets with the new ball- by leaving the balls. In his second over, Hasan Mahmud dropped Rohit’s catch; however, in the next over, Mahmud was the successful bowler for the Indian’s captain ouster. Rohit failed again with the bat, scoring just two runs off eight balls.
In the previous three matches that India have played, Rahul only played 14 balls, after which he departed. But today, it seemed he got his form back. He played 32 balls to smack 50, with three fours and four maximums at a strike rate of 156.25.
But on the very next ball, the experienced Shakib gave a much-needed breakthrough by breaking the partnership between Kohli and Rahul by dismissing the latter. It happened on the second ball of the 10th over when Shakib delivered a short one around the leg, which Rahul tried to pull but only managed a top-edge to Mustafizur Rahman at the short fine leg.
The next batter, the destructive Suryakumar Yadav, did his job well, scoring 30 runs off 16 balls with four boundaries at an impressive strike rate of 187.50. Shakib was again the bowler who got rid of the big fish with his short ball. Suryakumar tried to whack it through the off side but failed to get any bat, after which the ball went on to shatter the stumps.
Hardik Pandya also could add just five runs off six balls till Mahmud struck in the 16th over, when his short ball made Pandya guide it over the point but ended up smashing it straight to the point fielder Yasir Ali. India lost half of their wickets when a miscommunication between Dinesh Karthik and Kohli ended the former’s stay at the crease. Kohli was eyeing the ball, but Karthik had already left his crease; Shakib threw the ball and shattered the stumps.
After Karthik’s wicket, Axar Patel entered the crease but soon walked back. Ravichandran Ashwin was the next batter, whose four and six in the last over, propelled the team’s score to 184/6 in 20 overs.
Meanwhile, Kohli completed his third half-century in this T20 World Cup. He played 38 balls to score 50 runs; he went on to score an unbeaten 64 runs off 44 balls with eight boundaries and a six at a strike rate of 145.45. He also reached the top spot on the list of most runs in T20 World Cup by surpassing Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene; the former has now 13 fifties from just 23 innings in the T20 World Cup.
Check how Twitter reacted to Virat Kohli and KL Rahul’s half-centuries
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Gouri Das
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