Pune/IBNS/UNI: India's star batter Virat Kohli on Thursday slammed a century to outplay Bangladesh by seven wickets, helping his team to maintain their unbeaten run in the Cricket World Cup 2023.

Kohli remained not out at 103 off 97 balls when India (261/3) chased down a 257-run target in 41.3 overs in a match where the Bangladeshis started off brilliantly in the afternoon with bat.

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Shubman Gill (53 off 55 balls) and Rohit Sharma (48 off 40 balls) provided India the ideal start as the duo collected 88 runs for the first wicket until the latter, who is also the skipper of the side, was dismissed by Hasan Mahmud.

After Gill and Shreyas Iyer (19 off 25 balls) were sent back to pavilion by Mehidy Hasan, Kohli partnered KL Rahul, who scored 34 off as many balls, to ensure India score the required runs with an ease.

'Wanted to hang on till the end...' says Virat Kohli

Following the run chase, Kohli, who was declared the player of the match, said, "I wanted to make a big contribution. I have had a few fifties in World Cups but haven't really converted them so I just wanted to just finish the game off this time around."

"I wanted to hang on till the end, which I have done over the years for the team," the Team India veteran added.

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India comeback strongly with ball

India came back strongly to restrict Bangladesh to 256/8 as Tanzid Hasan and Litton Das smashed sparkling fifties to stitch 93 runs for the opening wicket at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium here.

Bangladesh openers Litton and Tanzid started off the innings carefully, garnering only 10 runs off the first five overs.

They picked pace by gathering 27 runs in next three overs by taking on Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

A shocker befell India when Hardik Pandya was hobbled off the field after hurting his ankle while trying to stop a ball on his run up.

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The remaining over was completed by Virat Kohli. Tanzid scored 16 off Shardul Thakur in the last over of the first Powerplay.

As India have been doing of late, they regrouped and their spinners smothered the run flow and scripted crucial breakthroughs.

Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja got LBW decisions in their favour, picking up the wickets of Tanzid (51 off 43 5x4 3x6) and Najmul (8), respectively.

Soon after Mehidy Hasan Miraz (3) walked in to strike, Rohit re-employed Mohammed Siraj, and he did not disappoint and got rid of him after a sparkling catch by KL Rahul behind the stumps.

At the middle innings mark, Bangladesh had added 68 runs with the loss of three wickets. This pushed Bangladesh into a sort of a hole which culminated in the dismal of Das, who made 66 off 82 balls with 7 boundaries. He was caught by Shubman Gill off Jadeja in the 28th over.

India managed to push through a number of low-scoring overs, before Mushfiqur Rahim tried to take the charge in the 32nd over with a six.

India's seamers came back strongly to stymie the late rush of Bangladesh in the end overs, with Shardul removing Towhid Hridoy caught by Gill for a 35-ball 16.

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Bumrah picked up the all-important wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim for 38 to cramp the chances of Bangladesh switching gears. Siraj came back from an injury scare and scalped Nasum Ahmed for 14 as the innings neared completion.

Siraj, returning after a scare over a finger injury, removed Nasum Ahmed as the innings approached its close.

But, the resplendent Mahmudullah bolstered Bangladesh to a respectable total with 36-ball 46 runs, before he was clean bowled by a wonderful ball in the final over of the innings.