[IND vs BAN] Pujara Says Virat Kohli Should Have “Sacrificed” His Hundred For NRR

Veteran India Test batsman, and a former teammate of Virat Kohli’s, Cheteshwar Pujara reckons KL Rahul and Kohli should have kept the NRR in mind, and that Kohli should “sacrificed” his century against Bangladesh for the greater good.

Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have received some criticism for the pair giving importance to Kohli’s milestone of a century during their World Cup 2023 match against Bangladesh in Pune, which India won by 7 wickets and 8.3 overs to spare.

At one point, India needed 28 runs to win and Kohli needed 27 runs to complete his century. The pair denied about five chances to take a single – KL Rahul later saying that it was his call to deny a single in the first place to give Kohli a chance to reach his 48th century, which he did by spanking fours and sixes.

Cheteshwar Pujara is of the belief that Kohli and Rahul shouldn’t have let the opportunity to boost their NRR pass by because of a milestone, as, he explained, NRR can matter heavily if India ends up in a mid-table jam.

“As much I wanted Virat Kohli to score that hundred, you have to keep in mind, you want to finish the game as early as possible. You want your Net Run Rate to be at the top. If you are in a position where you are fighting for the Net Run Rate, then you don’t want to look back and say ‘you could have done that’,” Pujara told ESPN Cricinfo.

“That’s where I feel that as a collective decision, maybe you have to sacrifice a bit. You want to look at the team, you want to put the team first, that’s how I look at it. You want your milestone, but not at the cost of the team. As a player, you always have a choice. But some players feel if they get a hundred, it helps them in the next game. So it depends on what kind of mindset you have,” he added.

Virat Kohli has earned the right to get to his hundred: Matthew Hayden

Legendary Australian opener Matthew Hayden gave a diplomatic answer saying that if anyone has deserved the right to go after a milestone, it’s Virat Kohli, who now has 48 ODI centuries, only one behind Sachin Tendulkar. But Hayden also reiterated Pujara’s point about the importance of NRR in a 10-team tournament.

“My initial reaction was he has earned the right to get to his hundred. You have got to be very careful in these tournaments. These things matter. The great Ian Bishop often talks about this, these things matter. The sporting gods are sinister-like, if you start flirting with that sort of form, then it can bit you. But it’s a decision that they both took. I don’t really have a problem with that,” Hayden opined.

Fans have given the argument that Kohli scored his last 29 runs in only 17 balls, which has indeed boosted India’s NRR than otherwise if they had crawled to it with singles and doubles. Nonetheless, India have 4 wins in 4 games and are just slightly behind New Zealand on NRR, who they face next in Dharamsala on Sunday.