Virat Kohli on Thursday brought up his 48th ODI century against Bangladesh in the 17th match of the ICC World Cup 2023 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
However, the manner in which the former skipper notched up his ton has subjected him to criticism on social media.
Following an outstanding opening partnership between Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul stitched together an 83-run partnership that helped India win by 7 wickets. Kohli was unbeaten on 85 runs and India was only 15 runs away from victory when KL Rahul started turning down easy singles to assist Kohli to reach his century.
After India’s victory, wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul told broadcasters that he encouraged the former skipper to complete his century and denied singles.
"He (Virat) was confused actually, he said, ‘it would not look too nice to not take singles, it's still a World Cup, it's still a big stage and I don't want to look like I am trying to get the milestone'," Rahul revealed.
"I said 'it's not won, but I mean we will still win this very easily. If you can get to the milestone, you must try'. And he did that in the end and I wasn’t going to run the singles anyway,” he added.
However, fans on X still shared their feelings about Virat focussing on his century by the end of the chase:
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