India made a rousing statement with the bat led by a double hundred from Ishan Kishan, supported by 113 from Virat Kohli as they racked up 409/8 after being put in to bat in the third ODI against Bangladesh at Chittagong.
The innings had started on a sedate note for India, with Mehidy Hasan trapping Shikhar Dhawan LBW in just the fifth over. Kishan, drafted in to the playing eleven after Rohit Sharma's injury, joined hands with Kohli thereafter to steady the innings. The duo managed to do that at a steady pace, with Kohli not finding his rhythm until he hit the thirties. Kishan, meanwhile, cashed in on width outside off, cutting and driving for his first four boundaries and was quickly the dominant partner in the 290-run stand.
As Bangladesh corrected their lines to go straighter against Kishan, he began to pull and sweep successfully to add to the pressure on the bowlers. His fifty came up off just 49 balls, but not without a few close shaves. Kohli was put down on 5 by Litton Das, who once again saw another chance falling just beyond his reach off the same batter. As Kishan switched gears, unafraid to hit with abandon, he gave a chance to deep midwicket where a diving Shakib Al Hasan, could not prevent the catch from being grassed despite a juggle.
Kishan, now with a good measure of the pitch, was also now finding his hitting zone against the unfavourable matchup of Mehidy Hasan's offspin, managing to loft and slog him straight down the ground. His pace increased post his fifty, with the second one coming off just 36 balls, bringing about his maiden ODI ton. Meanwhile, Kohli too had found his groove, lofting Shakib inside out over cover for a boundary but took the sensible path ahead to play the second fiddle to Kishan.
He found strike rotation to be easy, as Kishan threw his bat out at every ball after getting a hundred. His third fifty took another 18 balls, before the fourth took another 23 balls.
With that, Kishan became the fourth Indian to register an ODI double hundred, the youngest male batter to do so and also the quickest to get to the milestone in terms of balls faced, overtaking Chris Gayle's mark of 138 balls.
As he continued in the same vein, more records were under threat but on 210, he was finally dismissed when he failed to clear long on. It ended a knock that contained 24 fours and 10 sixes in all, and that had powered India past the 300-mark in just the 36th over.
Kohli, now emerged out of Kishan's shadows, targeting the cover region extensively and himself raced away to a 85-ball ton. It was a hundred that took him past Ricky Ponting's tally of 71 international hundreds, as India raced towards a big total.
That bid was hampered a touch when they lost Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Kohli himself in quick succession. However, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar played useful hands lower down the order, putting on 46 that eventually helped India to the highest ever ODI total in Bangladesh.
Brief Scores: India 409/8 (Ishan Kishan 210, Virat Kohli 113) vs Bangladesh
Source: Cricbuzz