Test cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara is not happy with Virat Kohli for slowing down the Indian team's charge against Bangladesh to get to his 48th ODI hundred in the ICC World Cup clash on Thursday.
Kohli refused to take singles and was on 97 with India needing two runs to win. He finished the game with a six to get to his century and end the match in style. The former India captain is just one hundred behind Sachin Tendulkar's world record of 49 ODI tons.
The century against Bangladesh was Kohli's third in a World Cup and first in 8 years in the tournament's history.
Pujara urges players to 'put the team first'
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But Pujara questioned Kohli's decision to go for a personal milestone rather than putting the team first in a tournament as important as the World Cup where net run rate comes into play quite regularly.
"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'," Cheteshwar 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.
India have won four games out of four in the tournament so far and will next face table-toppers New Zealand at the HPCA stadium in Dharamsala on Sunday (October 20).
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