India smartly reached the semifinals of the ICC World Twenty20 with one match to spare beating next door rival and hosts Bangladesh by eight wickets in their 3rd Super-10 match at the holiday crowd packed Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Friday.
Defending ICC World Cup champions India, which also won the inaugural title of the World Twenty20 in 2007, made thing easier to book a seat for the last four earlier beating arch-rival Pakistan and West Indies, both by seven wickets.
India will play their remaining Super-10 match against Australia on Sunday (Mar 30) at the same venue.
Chasing 139 runs, India reached their easy target scoring 141 runs for the loss of two wickets in 18.3 overs with nine balls remaining.
After a soft dismissal of opener Shikhar Dhawan (1) for 13 runs in 2.5 overs, another opener Rohit Sharma pairing with one down Virat Kohli contributed 100 runs partnership in the 2nd wicket stand to carry the team total to 113 for 2 in 15.2 overs.
Pacer Al Amin Hossain made the first breakthrough bowling out Shikhar Dhawan cheaply while another pacer Mashrafe Bin Mortaza broke the 100- run 2nd wicket partnership removing opener Rohit Sharma, who was caught by Nasir Hossain at point.
One down famed batsman Virat Kohli hammered an unconquered 57 runs off 50 balls featuring three fours and two sixes and Indian skipper MS Dhoni led the team towards the victory contributing an unbeaten 12-ball 22 runs hitting one four and two sixes.
Former national skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and inform pacer Al Amin Hossain took one wicket each conceding 23 and 38 runs respectively in their quota of four overs.
Earlier, hosts Bangladesh scored 138 for 7 in stipulated 20 overs against their giant neighbour India in their 2nd Super 10 match of the ICC World Twenty20 in front of houseful crowd Friday evening.
After conceding a frustrating defeat against West Indies in Super-10 and an embarrassing defeat against lowly Associate member Hong Kong in the qualifiers, Bangladesh made two changes in their line-up recalling all rounder Nasir Hossain and top order batsman Shamsur Rahman replacing Mominul Haque and Sabbir Rahman.
Sent in to bat first, Bangladesh again faced tremendous pressure after losing three top wickets —Tamim Iqbal (6), Shamsur Rahman Shuvo (0) and reliable Shakib Al Hasan (1) — for just 21 runs in 4.1 overs.
Ravichandran Ashwin made the early damage to the Bangladesh innings dismissing opener Tamim Iqbal and Shamsur Rahman in two successive balls (2nd and 3rd balls) of the 4th overs at the same score while Bhuvneshwar Kumar put Bangladesh in a deep trouble dismissing Shakib Al Hasan (1) in the first ball of the 5th over to restrict Bangladesh to 21 for 3 in 4.1 overs.
Ravichandran Ashwin bowled economically to grab two wickets for 15 runs in his four-over quota to be adjudged man of the match.
In a crucial situation, skipper Mushfiqur Rahim pairing with opener Anamul Haque tried their best to repair the early damage scoring 46 runs in the 4th wicket stand.
Opener Anamul Haque hammered the team highest 44 runs off 43 balls featuring five fours and two sixes while captain Mushfiqur Rahim made 21-ball 24 runs hitting four boundaries.
Later, Mahmudullah partnering with Nasir Hossain contributed 49 runs in the 6th wicket stand to score a face-saving total of 138 runs for 7.
Number seven Mahmudullah remained unbeaten with 23-ball 33 runs featuring five fours and one six while Nasir Hossain against failed to prove his worth scoring 17-ball 16 runs hitting one boundary.
Amit Mishra grabbed three wickets for 26 runs while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami took one wicket each.
Source: UNBConnect