'Threw Their Wickets Away Against Toothless Attack': Sunil Gavaskar Blasts Indian Duo
The dismissals of both Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer were poor as both the batters threw their wicket away against Bangladesh.
Virat Kohli's unbeaten century sealed India's fourth win from four World Cup matches as the hosts defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets on Thursday with the star batsman closing in on Sachin Tendulkar's record for ODI hundreds. Kohli reached his century and ended the match in style with a six against spinner Nasum Ahmed when he needed three runs to complete his century and India two more runs to reach a target of 257. While Kohli shone with the bat, captain Rohit Sharma (48) and Shubman Gill (52) also contributed to India's chase. Meanwhile, number 4 batter Shreyas Iyer fell for 19 runs.
The dismissals of both Gill and Iyer were poor as both the batters threw their wicket away and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was unhappy over the intent of the batters.
"He (Shreyas Iyer) lost his patience. He was batting on 19, threw his wicket away. Shubman Gill (was batting on) fifty (52), threw his wicket away," said Gavaskar on Star Sports.
"Kohli never does that. Kohli will seldom ever throw his wicket away. He makes you earn his wicket. And that is exactly what you need. When he got to 70-80, realising that he has an opportunity to get to a hundred and why not? Hundreds don't come everyday," added the former India captain.
"You need to know how to get to a hundred and it's important for Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill. Shubman Gillis at least getting hundreds, Shreyas Iyer is not getting hundreds. He is getting his opportunities to bat at number 4 on pitches as good as these and attacks as toothless as this and he is throwing away the opportunity," Gavaskar emphasised.
India reached home with more than eight overs to spare, finishing on 261 for 3.
Kohli's 48th ODI century left him just one shy of equalling India great Tendulkar's all-time record of 49 hundreds at this level.
Kohli faced 97 balls, including six fours and four sixes, with this century his third score in excess of fifty in four innings following contributions of 85 and 55 not out in recent pool wins over Australia and Afghanistan.
But for Bangladesh, a third defeat in four matches left them with an uphill struggle to qualify for the semi-finals.
(With AFP Inputs)
India Cricket Team
Bangladesh Cricket Team
Sunil Gavaskar