Birmingham: India cantered to a nine-wicket win over Bangladesh in a lopsided second semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy at the Edgbaston Stadium here on Thursday, setting up a clash with arch-rivals Pakistan in the final.
Chasing 265 to win after electing to field first, the defending champions did not flinch for one moment as Rohit Sharma scored his 11th career ton (123 not out) and captain Virat Kohli notched up his 42nd fifty (96 not out) to stitch up an unbeaten 178-run partnership for the second wicket.
Kohli, in the process, became the fastest cricketer in the world to reach 8,000 runs in ODIs in just 175 innings.
In-form opener Shikhar Dhawan continued from where he had left against South Africa with a quickfire (46; 34b; 7×4, 1×6) before getting out to Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza. India won the match with 59 balls to spare.
Earlier, riding on fluent half centuries from opener Tamim Iqbal and stumper Mushfiqur Rahim, Bangladesh posted 264/7.
Tamim (70) and Mushfiqur (61) posted a 123-run third-wicket partnership to steady the Bangladesh ship after the tigers were reduced to 36/2.
Pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/53) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/40) maintained a strict line to halt Bangladesh’s scoring rate while part-timer Kedar Jadhav (2/22) emerged as the surprise package for the Kohli-captained side.
Defending champions India win the toss and decided to field first in their second semifinal match at Champions Trophy match against Bangladesh today with no change in the team.
The Men in Blue will aim to live up to their tag of title contenders and dominate Bangladesh in the second semi-final of the Champions Trophy cricket tournament here on Thursday.
Bangladesh rode on a record partnership between Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmadullah to beat New Zealand by five wickets in their last match in Group A.
The South Asians had sufferred a top order collapse, losing four wickets by the 12th over before Shakib and Mahmadullah got together to add 224 runs between them -Bangladesh’s highest partnership in One-Day Internationals (ODI).
Apart from scoring a brilliant century, Shakib also bowled economically. Mahmudallah will also look to add strength to the side’s batting while openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar will have to give the team a good start against India.
Pacer Mustafizur Rahman will be the key in the Bangladesh bowling line-up. He has featured in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and should have some idea of the strengths and weaknesses of the Indian batsmen.
The Bangladesh bowling line-up featuring the likes of pacers Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain and Mashrafe Mortaza alongside spinners Shakib and Mosaddek Hossain will aim to test the Indian batsman with their pace and variation.
India opts to field first against B’desh in 2nd semifinal match at Champions Trophy:
Meanwhile India, led by skipper Virat Kohli will look to play ruthlessly and dominate Bangladesh right from the start.
The Indian batting has done well in most of their group matches and will aim to continue their good form.
Openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have done well so far and could pose all sorts of problems for the Bangladesh bolwers. Dhawan is the top scorer of the tournament with 271 runs in three matches.
Besides the openers, Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have been in good nick and have the capibility to snatch the match away from Bangladesh on their own with individual performances.
The Indian bowling department is also balanced with frontline pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah and Umesh Yadav alongside spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Medium-pacer Hardik Pandya will also look to provide breakthroughs in the middle-overs.
Kohli may look to experiment in the bowling department against Bangladesh, having benched Yadav to include Ashwin in their last Group B match against South Africa.
India have met Bangladesh seven times in ICC events since 2007. India lead the head-to-head battle 6-1 with Bangladesh having defeated India the last time in 2007.
The Teams:
Team India: Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik.
Bangladesh Team: Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mehedi Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Sunzamul Islam, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed.
