Headlines
India thrash Bangladesh, enter World Cup semis
Melbourne, March 19
Powered by a scintillating
century from Rohit Sharma (137), India registered a comprehensive
109-run win over neighbours Bangladesh to enter the cricket World Cup
semifinals at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here on
Thursday.
Guided by Rohit, the defending champions posted a
challenging total of 302/6 in 50 overs in the quarterfinal. Later, the
Bangladeshi batsmen proved no match for the Indian bowlers, who skittled
out the youngest Test-playing nation for 193 runs in 45 overs.
No
team has ever chased down a 300-plus target at the huge MCG and
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men ensured that they maintained the record.
Dhoni also entered his name into the record books to become only the
third captain in One-Day International (ODI) history to win 100 matches
after Allan Border (107) and Ricky Ponting (165).
Chasing 303,
Bangladesh never got going and kept losing wickets steadily. Opener
Tamim Iqbal (25) looked a little dangerous at the start but his wicket
in the seventh over started the collapse.
None of the Bangladesh
batsmen stepped up to play the anchor's role. The only notable
partnership came from Nasir Hossain (35) and Sabbir Rahman (30) who
struck a 50-run stand for the seventh wicket. But it was a little too
late to resurrect the innings for Bangladesh, who had lost six wickets
at 139 by the 36th over.
On a day when Mohammed Shami (2/37) and
Mohit Sharma (1/36) went for a few runs, it was Umesh Yadav who rose to
the occasion to clinch his career-best figures of 4/31. Also, with his
two wickets, Shami is now the highest wicket-taker of the World Cup with
17 scalps.
The spinners were also effective. While Ravindra
Jadeja (2/42) picked up a couple, offie Ravichandran Ashwin tied down
the batsmen with figures of 10-1-30-0.
Earlier, Rohit's 122-run fourth-wicket partnership with Suresh Raina (65) provided the platform for India to put up a big total.
After
opting to bat, India started off quite smoothly with openers Rohit and
Shikhar Dhawan (30) crafting a 75-run opening wicket stand to take India
through the initial overs.
The Bangladesh pacers lacked sting at
the start. Seeing this, captain Mashrafe Mortaza brought in spin via
Nasir Hossain in only the fifth over. When he was unsuccessful,
part-time spinner Mahmudullah also rolled his arm over.
Such
impact-less were the Bangladeshis that Mortaza had introduced five
bowlers within the first 12 overs as Dhawan and Rohit batted with ease,
without taking chances.
With none of them finding success,
Mortaza brought in his key weapon -- Shakib Al Hasan -- and the left-arm
spinner got immediate success when he had Dhawan stumped in the 17th
over. It took eight more deliveries before Bangladesh struck again when
fast bowler Rubel Hossain sent back Virat Kohli (3).
Bangladesh
stepped up the pressure on India, curbing their run flow. Under
pressure, middle-order bat Ajinkya Rahane (19) did not last long,
chipping one to mid-off to put India in more than a spot of bother at
115/3 in the 28th over.
Enter Raina. The left-hander cut loose
from the start to up the ante. Seeing his partner, Rohit also started
going for the shots. Raina, who scored a match-winning unbeaten century
in the last game against Zimbabwe, brought his form into this crucial
contest to hit seven boundaries and a six in his 57-ball innings.
The
two smashed 50 runs in the batting powerplay (35-40 overs) to help
India reach 205/3. India have till now not lost even a single wicket in
the batting powerplay, unlike other teams in the tournament.
After
Raina fell in the 44th over, Rohit kept up his strokeplay to bring up
his seventh ODI century and become one of only three non-Australians to
hit two hundreds at MCG along with David Gower and Viv Richards. Rohit's
ton was studded with 14 fours and three sixes.
In the end,
Ravindra Jadeja's unbeaten 15-ball 23-run cameo helped India cross the
300-run mark with 97 runs coming off the last 10 overs.
Pacer Taskin Ahmed, 19, was the pick of the Bangladeshi bowlers, picking up three wickets including that of Rohit.