CWC 2023: Umpire Richard Kettleborough wins hearts of Virat Kohli's fans for not signalling wide

India defeated Bangladesh by 7 wickets in Pune.

Virat Kohli after his hundred | Getty Images

India outplayed Bangladesh by 7 wickets in Pune on Thursday (October 19) to remain unbeaten in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, as the hosts now have won all four of their matches to be second on the points table.

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first, but could only post 256/8 in batting friendly conditions. Openers Tanzid Hasan (51) and Litton Das (66) struck fifties but after that apart from Mahmudullah (46) none of the batters could make much of an impact. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets each for India.

India had no difficulty in chasing down the 257-run target, as Rohit Sharma (48) and Shubman Gill (53) provided a great start. After that Virat Kohli (103*) guided the chase, and finished the game off by hitting a six to reach his 48th ODI century. He was also named the Player-of-the-Match for his third World Cup hundred.

There was an interesting moment towards the end as Kohli was unbeaten on 97, with India needing two runs to win. Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed bowled a wide down the leg-side, which seemed intentional to prevent Kohli from reaching his ton.

Umpire Richard Kettleborough perhaps identified the intention behind the wide and refused to call it a wide which surprised the commentators and even the Indian players in their dressing room. Kohli hit the next ball for a six to reach his milestone.

WATCH- Virat Kohli celebrates his 48th ODI century in India’s winning moment; Anushka Sharma reacts

The batter's fans were delighted with the decision despite it not making much of a difference.

Here are some of the reactions:

 

 
 

By Saurabh Malhotra - 19 Oct, 2023

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