India beat Bangladesh in CT semis – Sets date with Pak in the final

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Scorecard

Bangladesh – 264/7 in 50 overs (Tamim Iqbal 82 runs, Mushfiqur Rahim 61 runs)

India – 265/1 in 40.1 overs (Rohit Sharma 123 not out, Virat Kohli 96 not out)

Team India beat Bangladesh in the second semifinal of the Champions Trophy played at Birmingham to reach the final where it will face arch nemesis Pakistan. The defending champions defeated Bangladesh by 9 wickets and now are just one match away from retaining the coveted trophy. It has been 10 years since India will face Pakistan in the final of an ICC tournament. The last time an Indo-Pak final took place was in 2007 world T20 final where India edged out their neighbors in a thrilling contest to claim the inaugural T20 world cup. On the 18th of June, another high adrenaline contest can be expected between the two teams.

In the semi-final played between India and Bangladesh, India easily marched over their rivals with 9 wickets to spare. Chasing 265 to win the match, Indian batting juggernaut led by Rohit Sharma and skipper Virat Kohli reached the target in just 40.1 overs. Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten century ( 123 runs in 129 balls) which included 15 fours and a six while Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 96 of 78 balls which included 13 fours. The pair added 178 runs for the second wicket and guided India home. Shikhar Dhawan kickstarted the Indian innings in his flamboyant style by scoring 46 runs in just 34 balls. He hit 7 fours and 1 six in his innings. Rohit Sharma received the man of the match award for scoring his maiden Champions Trophy century.

AS IT HAPPENED

BANGLADESH INNINGS

Virat Kohli won the toss and asked Bangladesh to bat first. Indian bowlers struck early to rock Bangladesh innings. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar clean bowled Soumya Sarkar in the first over of the innings and jolted Ban. He then struck again by sending flashy Sabbir Rehman back to the pavilion. Things could have been worse for Ban when Tamim was bowled for an individual score of 16 by Hardik Pandya but the umpire correctly called it a no-ball and Tamim survived.

After that Tamim along with captain Mushfiqur Rahim consolidated the innings and threatened to take the game away from India. The pair added 123 runs for the 4th wicket and took Ban to 159 in 28 overs. Just when it seemed that Indian bowling was repeating their dismal performance against Srilanka and Ban would post a huge total, Virat Kohli applied the brakes on scoring by introducing part timer Kedar Jadhav. Jadhav dismissed both set batsmen and triggered a mini collapse. Bangladesh could never really recover from it and was restricted to 264 in their 50 overs.

Tamim Iqbal scored 70 runs off 82 deliveries and hit 7 fours and a six in his innings. Mushfiqur Rahim made 61 runs off 85 deliveries while hitting 4 boundaries. The lower order of Bangladesh somehow took the total over 250 to give something for their bowlers to defend against a strong batting line-up. Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvaneshvar Kumar kept the batsmen in check with their line and length in the death overs, Bumrah struck twice to make sure that the Bangladeshi batsmen never gain the momentum in the slog overs.

Bumrah, Kumar and Jadhav took 2 wickets each while R Jadeja took one wicket.

INDIA INNINGS

Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma started the Indian innings swiftly. Musharraf Murtaza bowled the first over in which India scored two runs. In the second over, Dhawan scored nine runs by hitting Mustafizur Rehman for two fours. In the third over, Murtaza gave two runs. Rohit hit 3 consecutive fours off Mustafizur in the fourth over.

In the sixth over, Dhawan scored five runs including a four which was bowled by Taskin Ahmed. In the eighth over, Dhawan unleashed his wrath on Taskin. He hit two fours and a six and hit 16 runs in the over. Dhawan quickly accelerated to 46 runs off 34 balls before he was caught by Mossadeck on the bowling of Mortaza. By the end of 15th over India had reached 87 runs for the loss of one wicket.

Virat Kohli joined Rohit in the middle after the fall of the first wicket and deflated Bangladesh bowling. They gave their bowlers no chance and scored willingly in all parts of the ground. In the 16th over Rohit Sharma reached his 32nd half-century by hitting consecutive fours off Shakib-Al-Hasan and a single of the next ball. In the next two overs, the pair added 7 runs. Rohit hit two fours in the 19th over which yielded 12 runs.

Virat Kohli got into the act and hit Mustafizur for 2 fours and Rubel for 3 fours in the 22nd and 23rd overs respectively. Virat Kohli reached 42nd fifty of his career with a four in the 29th over. A few minutes later Rohit Sharma reached his 11th ODI century in the 33rd over. He reached the landmark by hitting a six off Mustafizur Rehman. The match was just a formality now as Bangladesh team had given up all hope. Virat Kohli finished off the game in style by hitting the wiining runs with a boundary.

Virat remained unbeaten on 96 and Rohit on 123 and took India to the final with a convincing win.

The final will be played on 18th June between India and Pakistan.

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