Champions Trophy: Dominant India set up Pakistan date after thrashing Bangladesh

Indias Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli celebrate after winning the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal match against Bangladesh at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Thursday PicAFPBirminghamRohit Sharma stamped his classwith an authoritative hundred in the company of magnificentVirat Kohli as India annihilated Bangladesh by nine wickets toset up a bumper summit showdown with archrivals Pakistan inthe Champions Trophy here todayThe lazy elegance of Rohit 123 no off 129 balls coupledwith the unmatched swagger of skipper Kohli 96 no off 78balls ensured India treat Bangladeshs attack with utter disdain knocking off a modest target of 265 in 401 oversThis was after some inspired bowling changes from Kohli including the introduction of parttime offspinner KedarJadhav which changed the complexion of the game withBangladesh managing only 264 for seven in 50 oversA miracle was needed for the overrated mediocre pace attack to stop the Indian lineup That didnt happen as Rohitand Shikhar Dhawan 46 added 87 for the opening wicketAnd then came skipper Kohli who treated the opposition attack as a bunch of net bowlers adding 178 runs for thesecond wicket off 153 ballsThe Indian captain also reached a personal milestone of 8000 ODI runs in his 183rd matchRohits innings will be remembered for those pull shotsand the amount of time he had to execute each one of themBut Kohlis innings will be specifically remembered fortwo shots or rather two pushes off Mustafizur Rahaman they were the best of the Indian inningsOne that went straight past the bowler and the other was pushed through the vacant midoff area It was the best way ofshowing who the boss isThe gulf between the two teams was evident in the mannerthe Indian batsmen toyed with the Bangladesh attackAnything short outside the offstump was cut withferocity If the short ball was on leg and middle it wasdutifully pulled by Rohit Kohli or DhawanThey played all sorts of pull shots iquest Rohit primarily hit behind the square Dhawan through the square and Virat infront of the squareRohit who is playing his first international tournament in six months once again showed during his 11th ODI hundred as to why he is so highly ratedThere were 15 boundaries and a hooked six off Mustafizur brought up his hundred Kohli who finished the match with a boundary hit 13 of them in allIndias Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2R celebrates the dismissal of Bagladeshs Sabbir Rahman L during the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal cricket match between India and Bangladesh at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Thursday PicAFPEarlier Part time offspinner KedarJadhavs golden arm provided decisive twin blows helpingdefending champions India restrict Bangladesh to 264 for sevenin the second semifinal of the Champions Trophy here todayJadhavs 222 in six overs brought India back in thegame as he took the crucial wickets of Tamim Iqbal 70 andMushfiqur Rahim 61 with his fastish offbreaksThe two wickets proved to be the difference between Bangladesh only managing 264 instead of a projected 310 afterTamim and Rahim had added 123 runs for the second wicket inonly 211 oversOnce Kedar was done with his job Jasprit Bumrah 240 in 10 overs played his regular part to perfection stiflingthe opposition with as many as 40 dot ballsThe third Powerplay 4150 saw Bangladesh scoring only62 runs primarily due to a cameo from skipper Mashrafe Mortaza 30 no off 25 ballsBumrahs senior partner Bhuvneshwar Kumar 253 complemented him well with couple of dismissals first upBangladesh lost momentum when Jadhav first got rid of thedangerous Tamim who tried an ugly slog sweep to a deliverythat was fired down at middle and leg He missed the linecompletely to be bowledIn a space of few overs Jadhav was back in thick of things this time getting Rahim to drive uppishly which wentstraight to skipper Virat Kohli at midwicketJadhav was an inspired choice for Kohli as his fifth bowler Hardik Pandya had an offday giving away 34 in hisfour overs including one over where he got Tamim out twice caught off a freehit and then bowled off a noballRavindra Jadeja 148 in 10 overs got Shakib Al Hasan 15 caught by Mahendra Singh Dhoni between the dismissals ofTamim and RahimFrom 154 for two Bangladesh slumped to 179 for five once again fluffing their lines during the crucial deathoversIt was Bumrah who took charge during the death overs He scared the hell out of Mosaddek Saikat 15 with a barrage of short balls which got him a simple caught and bowledBangladeshs last hope for a big score was MahmudullahRiyadh 21 who got the perfect yorker and he could have donenothing about itEarlier both Tamim and Shakib didnt take too many risks but got the scoreboard ticking raising hopes of a bigtotal when they were comfortably placed at 154 for twoTamims 82 ball innings had seven fours and a flickedsix off Hardik Pandya while Rahim hit four boundaries in his85ball knock In fact after three successive boundaries off a Bhuvneshwar over Rahim was more keen on rotating the strikeThey in fact negotiated Ravichandran Ashwin 100540 well without taking any undue risks While Ashwin bowled 27dot balls he did not bowl any wickettaking deliveriesBrief scores Bangladesh 2647 in 50 overs Tamim 70Mushfiqur 61 Bumrah 240