ICC Champions Trophy: India Sweep Bangladesh Aside To Play Finals Vs Pakistan 

Birmingham: India have completed a thumping 9-wicket win against Bangladesh to win the semifinal in style. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli shared an unbeaten 178-run stand in a chase that seemed like a stroll in the park. Defending champions India are in the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 where they will face Pakistan. It is going to be a Super Sunday for cricket fans as India set up a mouthwatering final showdown with arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday.

Rohit Sharma (123*) scored his 11th ODI century as India chased down 265-run target with overs to spare.

The Virat Kohli-led team was too hot to handle for Bangladesh, who failed to score a big total despite fifties from Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim and could only score 264 runs after being put in to bat.

After Shikhar Dhawan got out when India’s score was 87, Rohit and Kohli (96*) tormented the Bangladesh bowling attack during their unbeaten 178–run stand in 153 deliveries.

Earlier, Bangladesh failed to capitalize on 123–run partnership between Tamim Iqbal (70) and Mushfiqur Rahim (61) and could only score 264 runs for the loss of seven wickets.

The Mashrafe Mortaza-led side, who were cruising with 159/2 after 27.2 overs, were done in by the middle-order collapse at the hands of Kedar Jadhav (2/22) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/48). While Mortaza swung his bat to score unbeaten 30 off 25 balls, Bangladesh seemed to be 20-30 runs short of what could have been their ideal target on a wicket that did not have much in it for the bowlers.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/53) put India off to flying start in the overcast condition as he dismissed Soumya Sarkar (0) in the first over. While Sabbir Rahman (19) threw the kitchen sink and more and batted with gusto, he was done in as Bhuvi and Jasprit Bumrah (2/40) bowled a string of dot balls.

Tamim, who was sedate in the beginning, joined hands with Mushfiqur as the two mixed caution with aggression to dominate Indian bowling. Just when Tamim looked set for his second hundred of the ICC Champions Trophy, he was dismissed by Kedar Jadhav.

While a lot was expected from Shakib Al Hasan, Jadeja got the better of him as MS Dhoni took a sharp catch behind the stumps. Mushfiqur followed soon after as he made a mess of a Kedar Jadhav fulltoss and gave an easy catch to Virat Kohli.