Triumphant India thrashed Bangladesh by 9 wickets at the ICC Champions Trophy 2nd semi-final to set up a mouth-watering grand finale against Pakistan for the title at the Oval on Sunday.
Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 123 anchors India into ICC Champions Trophy 2017 final
Batting first, Bangladesh posed a respectable total of 264 for 7 but Indian top order made the mockery of that target by accomplishing the same at 40.1 overs. Today, all three of India’s top order batsmen clicked that made the run-chase easier for the team.
Also Read: ICC Champions Trophy 2017: SWOT Analysis of the Indian team
India’s opening pair of Rohit Sharma 123* (129b, 15 x 4s, 1 x 6) and Sikhar Dhawan 46 (34b, 7 x 4s, 1 x 6) added a breezy 87 for the first-wicket partnership before Mortaza removed the southpaw at 14.4 overs. Soon, Captain Kohli joined the party and then absolute run-riot followed at Edgbaston.
Virat Kohli 96* (78b, 13 x 4s) played a marvelous knock to set up a winning partnership of an unbeaten 178-run-stand for the second wicket with Rohit Sharma before wrapping up things in style with a 9-wicekt victory. He also became the fastest batsman to reach 8000-run mark in ODIs.
Earlier, India opted to bowl first on winning the toss. The decision proved absolutely right as the Bangla opener Sarkar (0) got bowled off Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the very first over. Soon, Sabbir Rahman (19) also got out off Bhuvneshwar while trying to hit him ending up giving a catch to Ravindra Jadeja.
Then, Bangladesh slowly consolidated their innings as opener Tamim Iqbal (70) and Mushfiqur Rahim (61) added 123-run partnership for the third wicket. However, part-timer Kedhar Jadhav (2/22) sprang a surprise at the last ball of 27th over when he bowled out the well-set Tamim Iqbal.
Soon, Ravindra Jadeja’s left-arm-spin completely bamboozled the dangerous Shakib as the left hander ended up giving an outside edge to Dhoni. Then Jadhav struck again picking up the vital wicket of Rahim as the right hander tried to hit the full toss away for six but ended up giving a catch to Kohli near the boundary rope. It was now pretty difficult for the Bangladesh to cross 300-run-mark.
Eventually, Bangladesh could put up a respectable total of 264 runs on board at the loss of 7 wickets after 50 overs. In hindsight, they could score just 110 runs from 22 overs unexpectedly at below 6 RPO.
Contrarily, both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma liven up the entire stadium with their spectacular shots across the stadium including those magnificent cover-drives from the Indian skipper.
Brief Scorecard
Bangladesh 264/7 (50 overs) : Iqbal 70, Mushfiqur Rahim (61); Jadhav 22/1
India 265/1 (40.1 overs): Rohit Sharma 123*, Kohli 96*; Mortaza 29/1
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