'Century ho rahi hai toh karne do': Wasim Akram sides with Virat Kohli amid criticism over 'playing for hundred' vs BAN

Virat Kohli smashed his 48th ODI century during India's win against Bangladesh in the 2023 World Cup on Thursday.

Team India's star batter Virat Kohli smashed a rather dramatic century in the side's brilliant win over Bangladesh in the 2023 World Cup group match in Pune. Chasing a modest 257-run target, India required 19 runs off 66 deliveries with Kohli requiring just as many to reach the three-figure mark for the 48th time in ODIs. In a dramatic turn of events, Kohli smashed his century over the next three overs, not opting to run for singles and taking an aggressive route instead. The batter reached his hundred with a massive six in the 42nd over, ensuring India register their fourth-successive win at the 2023 edition.

Pune, Oct 19 (ANI): India's Virat Kohli raises his bat after hitting the winning runs and also completing his century during their match against Bangladesh (ANI )

In the 41st over of the Indian innings, Kohli displayed his brilliant level of fitness as he ran twos on a couple of occasions; he had arrived at the crease during the 13th over and had earlier fielded for the entirety of Bangladesh's innings as well. And Kohli's brilliant effort at running between the wickets didn't go unnoticed as former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram lauded the India star.

There had also been criticism of Kohli going for his century during the final stages of the game, with the batter drawing flak from certain sections of social media for not taking the singles and playing for his hundred instead. However, Akram believes there was nothing wrong with how Kohli approached his century.

“He fielded for the first 50 overs, and then, in the 90th over of the match, he took back-to-back twos. That shows his fitness, that shows that this guy is from another planet. They were winning pretty easily, century ho rahi hai toh hone do (If the batter has a chance to reach his century, let him be). They were toying with the bowlers, they were enjoying the batting. When Kohli came to bat, and the start that he had, it was only a matter of time,” said Akram during ‘The Pavilion’ show on Pakistan's news channel A Sports.

Following Akram's comments, a replay of Kohli's twos was shown in the studio, to which the former captain lauded the batter's fitness again, while former Pakistan wicketkeeper Moin Khan mentioned that Kohli ran quicker than his partner KL Rahul.

“He was on 92. And after fielding for 50 overs, he batted and did that. That shows extreme fitness,” Akram said.

Moin, meanwhile, pointed, “The best thing was, Kohli played the shot and he covered the crease quicker than KL Rahul.”