Virat Kohli, on Thursday (October 19), had to bowl in the ongoing game against Bangladesh in the 17th match of the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. India and Bangladesh are playing the game at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
Team India suffered a big setback in the early stages of the game as their star all-rounder, Hardik Pandya, had to leave the field due to an injury. The incident took place when the allrounder was introduced into the attack by captain Rohit Sharma and he came to bowl the ninth over.
He began with a stunning delivery before Litton Das hit him for a four. The Bangladesh opener hit the third ball for a four too before Hardik Pandya sustained the injury. It was a straight drive from Litton and the allrounder stuck out his right boot in order to stop the ball. He, however, ended up overstretching and in doing so, he sustained an ankle injury.
The physio came out immediately and although Hardik Pandya managed to stand up, he was seen hobbling. He did try to complete the over but eventually decided to walk off. And with three deliveries left in the over, Rohit Sharma asked Virat Kohli to bowl the remaining overs. Virat Kohli could not give India the breakthrough but conceded only two singles in three deliveries.
Watch Virat Kohli bowling against Bangladesh:
Rohit then introduced Kuldeep Yadav and Shardul Thakur in the attack. Before bowling the three deliveries, Virat Kohli had not bowled in international cricket since 2022 when he bowled one over against Hong Kong in the Asia Cup. On the other hand, he last bowled in an ODI game way back in 2017.
It was also only the fourth time and first time since 2015 that he bowled in the ODI World Cup. He had bowled one over each against Australia and Sri Lanka in 2011 before bowling one over against Australia in 2015.
