‘Oh my word. Tell me it’s happening’: Virat Kohli bowls in ODI for first time in six years

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The all-rounder’s third ball was smashed down the ground and Pandya stuck his right boot out before slipping and falling awkwardly on his left leg.

When he was helped to his feet, he could barely stand, let alone run freely enough to run.

So someone needed to bowl his last three balls — so who else but King Kohli?

The decision was met with an enormous reaction from the fans.

In commentary, Nasser Hussain said: “Oh my word. Tell me, tell me it’s happening.

“They came to watch Kohli the batter, it’s going to be Kohli’s golden arm with the ball.”

While it’s not a common occurrence, it’s not that irregular either.

Kohli bowled an over against Hong Kong in a T20 in August last year. In 2020, he bowled a Test over against New Zealand.

But while he’s bowled on 48 previous occasions in ODI cricket, he hasn’t bowled in a 50-over clash since August 2017 against Sri Lanka.

For the record, Kohli’s bowling stats are four wickets, an average of 166.25, strike rate of 160.2 and economy of 6.22 runs per over.

According to Cricinfo’s statistics, Kohli is a right arm medium bowler and it’s safe to say he’s a very medium bowler, bowling his fastest ball at 104.2km/h.

But he was also hit for just two runs off his three balls as the crowd chanted his name.

He was getting some nice swing as well and made sure to get out of the over with next to no damage.

One fan said: “Virat Kohli is the most economical bowler after Jasprit Bumrah. What do you think Rohit, Virat will bowling again!”

Maybe Kohli should have bowled another over — the 10th over from Shardul Thakur went for 16 runs.

But India bounced back after finally snagging the first wicket in the 15th over with the score on 93.

On the plus side for Bangladesh, Tanzid Hasan struck his maiden one-day international fifty.

The 22-year-old left-hander, whose previous highest score in eight matches at this level was 16, made an impressive 51 off 43 balls including five fours and three sixes.

Together with Liton Das, he shared an opening stand of 93 after stand-in Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, deputising for the injured Shakib Al Hasan, won the toss.

But as the wickets began to fall, India clawed the run rate back, restricting Bangladesh to 8/256 off the 50 overs.

‘Special’: Kohli all class in man of the match innings

Kohli’s smacked an unbeaten century to help seal India’s fourth win from four World Cup matches as the hosts went on to defeat Bangladesh by seven wickets.

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.

They got there with more than eight overs to spare, finishing on 261-3. Kohli’s 48th one-day international century left him just one shy of equalling India great Sachin 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.

Chants of “Kohli!, Kohli!” rang round a crowd of over 33,000 as the former captain reached his third World Cup hundred and second against Bangladesh in style.

“I wanted to make a big contribution,” said player of the match Kohli at the presentation ceremony.

“I’ve had a few fifties in World Cups and haven’t converted them so I just wanted to finish the game off this time around.

“We understand it’s a long tournament and you need to create some momentum for the guys to come out and play like this.

“It’s a special feeling playing at home in front of all these people and we just want to make the most of it.”