India storm into semifinal
30 March 2014 5:20 AM IST
India restricted Bangladesh to 138 for seven, courtesy yet another dominating performance by their spinners and then the batsmen made short work of the target by crossing the line with nine balls to spare. Leggie Amit Mishra (3/26) and off-spinner R Ashwin (2/15) shared five wickets between them to set up the win. This is third successive victory in the competition for India and they are well on top of Group 2 with six points and a match to go against Australia, who are more or less out of semifinal race. India’s last-four berth is also their first since the inaugural edition in South Africa in 2007.
Save Shikhar Dhawan (1)’s early departure, there weren’t any hiccup as Rohit Sharma (56) and Virat Kohli (57) batted with consummate ease and the ‘Men In Blue’ reached the target without breaking much sweat. Both Sharma and Kohli scored their second successive half-centuries.
The duo added 100 runs for the second wicket partnership to pave the way for another professional show by the team. Rohit faced 44 balls in his knock hitting five fours and a six. Virat took 50 deliveries for his knock and helped himself with three fours and a six in the process.
Such has been the duo’s domination in the tournament that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had to promote himself up to get an opportunity to bat as he desperately needed some ‘batting practice’ in a match situation. Dhoni (22* off 12) finished it off in style by hitting a straight six off Ziaur Rahman. The two shots in the Indian innings which stood out were the sixes hit by Rohit and Kohli respectively. First was a bouncer by the skiddy Al-Amin Hossain which Rohit hooked deep into the lower tier of the Shere Bangla Stadium.
The second was an effortless loft over extra cover by Kohli off the same pacer. The two hits showed the gulf in standards between the two teams. It was not easy to bowl under lights as the home team bowlers found out. It seemed that Bangladesh had lost the zeal to compete after their mauling at the hands of West Indies.
There were a couple of difficult skiers offered by Rohit but Sohag Gazi and Anamul Haque made a mess of those. Their bowlers and fielders were happy to go through the motion as the match did not have any element of excitement like the afternoon humdinger between West Indies and Australia.
Earlier, India spinners yet again put up an impressive show. Ashwin was yet again at his parsimonious best with exceptional figures of two for 15 in four overs. Amit Mishra’s dream run in the marquee event continued as he was the pick of the bowlers with figures of three for 26 in four overs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled tidily to give away only 21 in his three overs and dismissed their top player Shakib Al Hasan in the process. For Bangladesh, all-rounder Mahmudullah finally came good as he blasted unbeaten 33 off 23 balls with five fours and a six to give his team’s total a decent look. Mahmudullah added 49 runs for the sixth wicket with Nasir Hossain (16) as they are the third team in the tournament that India have restricted for less than 140. Opener Anamul Haque (44) played well at the top while skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (24) failed to convert the start that he got.
BRIEF SCORES
India 141 for 2 (Kohli 57*, Rohit 56) beat Bangladesh 138 for 7 (Anamul 44, Mishra 3-26) by 8 wickets.
Save Shikhar Dhawan (1)’s early departure, there weren’t any hiccup as Rohit Sharma (56) and Virat Kohli (57) batted with consummate ease and the ‘Men In Blue’ reached the target without breaking much sweat. Both Sharma and Kohli scored their second successive half-centuries.
The duo added 100 runs for the second wicket partnership to pave the way for another professional show by the team. Rohit faced 44 balls in his knock hitting five fours and a six. Virat took 50 deliveries for his knock and helped himself with three fours and a six in the process.
Such has been the duo’s domination in the tournament that skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had to promote himself up to get an opportunity to bat as he desperately needed some ‘batting practice’ in a match situation. Dhoni (22* off 12) finished it off in style by hitting a straight six off Ziaur Rahman. The two shots in the Indian innings which stood out were the sixes hit by Rohit and Kohli respectively. First was a bouncer by the skiddy Al-Amin Hossain which Rohit hooked deep into the lower tier of the Shere Bangla Stadium.
The second was an effortless loft over extra cover by Kohli off the same pacer. The two hits showed the gulf in standards between the two teams. It was not easy to bowl under lights as the home team bowlers found out. It seemed that Bangladesh had lost the zeal to compete after their mauling at the hands of West Indies.
There were a couple of difficult skiers offered by Rohit but Sohag Gazi and Anamul Haque made a mess of those. Their bowlers and fielders were happy to go through the motion as the match did not have any element of excitement like the afternoon humdinger between West Indies and Australia.
Earlier, India spinners yet again put up an impressive show. Ashwin was yet again at his parsimonious best with exceptional figures of two for 15 in four overs. Amit Mishra’s dream run in the marquee event continued as he was the pick of the bowlers with figures of three for 26 in four overs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled tidily to give away only 21 in his three overs and dismissed their top player Shakib Al Hasan in the process. For Bangladesh, all-rounder Mahmudullah finally came good as he blasted unbeaten 33 off 23 balls with five fours and a six to give his team’s total a decent look. Mahmudullah added 49 runs for the sixth wicket with Nasir Hossain (16) as they are the third team in the tournament that India have restricted for less than 140. Opener Anamul Haque (44) played well at the top while skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (24) failed to convert the start that he got.
BRIEF SCORES
India 141 for 2 (Kohli 57*, Rohit 56) beat Bangladesh 138 for 7 (Anamul 44, Mishra 3-26) by 8 wickets.
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