IND vs BAN, World Cup 2023: How Virat Kohli was helped by Umpire Richard Kettleborough for his century vs Bangladesh?

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India secure the fourth consecutive victory in the ICC World Cup 2023 with another impressive victory over Bangladesh in Pune on Thursday.

It was yet another dominant performance from the Indian team, first with the ball and then with the bat. The Indian Maverick Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten century to take the home side high and dry.

Chasing a tricky target of 257, it never felt any doubt that India was on course and very comfortable reaching it. Despite Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill's decent start, it was Virat Kohli who finished things off and took India home.

Kohi was sublime with his batting. He destroyed the Bangladeshi bowlers and along with his boundaries, rotated the strike magnificently. The Indian batter ran between the wickets with purpose and gave himself a chance to get to his century, the 48th of his ODI career.

But there was umpire Richard Kettleborough, who played a pivotal part in Kohli getting his century.

In the 42nd over, Kohli was on 97 and India were needing just two runs to win the match. Bangladeshi spinner Nasum Ahmed came into bowl and the left-arm spinner bowled one straight down the leg side.

Kohli moved away from the trajectory and was visibly bemused by Nasum's tactics of bowling intentional wides to deny the Indian stalwart a well-deserved century. But to Kohli's and team India's pleasant surprise, umpire Richard Kettleborough didn't give the wide.

He had a smile in his face and deemed it as a legitimate delivery. Two balls after that, Kohli dispatched a full toss over deep mid wicket and got to his century, scoring the winning runs as well.

Now had Kettleborough given the ball a wide, things could have been different and Kohli might not have got to his century. It was something unusual from the umpire, as the ball was a blatant wide, but perhaps Kettleborough also wanted to see a Kohli century!

The 34-year-old Indian batter has now his 48th ODI century. Kohli's hundred has also taken him 2nd in the run scorers chart in the World Cup 2023. The Delhi-born now has amassed 259 runs with a staggering average of 129.5 after four matches. India captain Rohit Sharma is at the top with 265 runs after four matches.