India beat minnows Bangladesh convincingly thanks to a Rohit Sharma ton to set up big final against arch-rivals Pakistan.
Defending champions India storm into successive final of ICC Champions Trophy after they crushed Bangladesh by 9 wickets at Edgbaston, Brimingham on Thursday, June 15. Unbeaten century by a?hitmana Rohit Sharma and well composed captainas knock by Virat Kohli; helped India chase down the target of 265 quite comfortably in 40.1 overs with 9 wickets remaining. India will now face arch-rivals Pakistan in final of Champions Trophy on Sunday, June 18 at the Kennington Oval, London.
Rohit Sharma emerges as chief architect of this victory as he scored an unbeaten century (123* runs off 129 balls) including 15 fours and one maximum over the fence. He was awarded man of the match for his brilliant knock. a?It was a great knock, especially when it comes on a winning note. Always memorable when you score a hundred and win the game.a? said Rohit Sharma receiving the award.
Chasing the modest target of 265 set by Bangladeshi batsmen on flat surface of Edgbaston; in-form Indian opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan gave India good start. Dhawan smashed two consecutive boundaries in first over of his teammate from IPL franchise, MustafizurRahman. The duo added 87 runs for the first wicket before the ball went straight into hands of MosaddekHossain at backward point taking edge of Dhawanas bat. Dhawan scored 46 runs off 34 balls including seven fours and one six taking his runs tally to 680 in nine innings of Champions Trophy to become highest Indian runs scorer in Champions Trophy surpassing SouravGangulyas 665 runs in 11 innings.
After Dhawanas dismissal, Indian captain ViratKohli (96* runs off 78 balls) took charge of the chase along with settled Rohit Sharma. Kohli looked in fine touch when he played an effortless straight drive off Mustafizuras slower one. After cautious start Kohli started playing aggressive strokes, his perfectly timed shots were the highlight of the innings. Meanwhile, Rohit completes his maiden century of Champions Trophy,eleventh of ODI career with a six.
Both the batsmen were taking on hopeless Bangladeshi bowling attack. With a single on third ball of 39th over, Kohli reaches to 8000 runs in one day international cricket. He became the fastest to reach 8000 run mark taking only 175 innings, 7 innings lesser than AB de Villiers who is now second in the list of fastest 8000 one day international runs. Both the batsman added record unbeaten 178 run stand for the second wicket before Kohli played winning boundary through covers.
Earlier, Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the crucial toss and put Bangladesh to bat on the dry surface of Edgbaston in front of record 24,340 numbers of spectators. Bhuvneshwar Kumar took full advantage of overhead conditions to give India early break-through when he bowled Saumya Sarkar out on the last delivery of first over of the inning and then getting Sabbir Rahman out in his fourth over. When it was looking like Indian bowlers will bundle out Bangladeshi batsmen easily; in-form TamimIqbal (70 runs off 82 balls) and experienced Mushfiqur Rahim (61 runs off 85 balls) came to the rescue.
Both played some aggressive shots, stitched 123 runs valuable partnership for third wicket. Running out of options, Kohli handed the ball to Kedar Jadhav. Jadhav not just controlled run rate but also gave his captain two crucial breakthroughs when it needed the most; by dismissing both the set batsmen Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim. Wickets kept falling at regular intervals as Bangladesh managed 264 for 7 in 50 overs.
Brief Scores:
Bangladesh: 264/7 in 50 overs ( TamimIqbal 70, Mushfiqur Rahim 61, JaspritBumrah 2-39, KedarJadhav 2-22 ) lost to India: 265/1 in 40.1 overs ( Rohit Sharma 123*, ViratKohli 96*, MashrafeMortaza 1-29 )
