India on Tuesday defeated Bangladesh by 28 runs knocking their south Asian neighbours out of the World Cup competition. India, on the other hand, booked their place in the semi-final. Jasprit Bumrah scalped four wickets while Hardik Pandya finished with three wickets.
Shakib al Hasan remained the top-scorer with 66 runs. Unfortunately for Bangladesh, no other batsmen could rise to the occasion to pull off what could have been a spectacular win against India. Though Sabbir Rahman did his best at the lower order as he hit Mohammad Shami for a few boundaries, he too fell to Jasprit Bumrah for 30.
After Sabbir departed, Mohammad Saifuddin took it upon himself to try and win the match for Bangladesh as he began to score freely. He finished a fabulous fifty by hitting Bumrah for four in the 48th over. His half-century came in just 36 balls. The same over also saw Rubel Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman getting out off Bumrah’s bowling, leaving Bangladesh all out for 286 runs in 48 overs.
Earlier, after winning the toss, India decided to bat first. India made a good start as both KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma hit Bangladeshi bowlers across the ground for boundaries and sixes with ease. Rohit Sharma went on to score another brilliant century, fourth in the competition. His knock of 104 runs included seven fours and five sixes. Also supporting him was KL Rahul who fell for 77. Their excellent first-wicket partnership ended at 180, which the two took less than 30 overs to score.
Rohit Sharma also became the highest run-getter in this edition of the World Cup. Incidentally, he was once again dropped by Tamim Iqbal today very early on in his innings when he was batting at 9.
With India placed at 180 for 1 in 29.2, one would have expected the men in blue to go for the kill and pile up the team’s total in excess of 350 runs. But, the middle order faltered as captain Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Hardik Padnya and Dinesh Karthik failed to contribute with the bat. India ended their innings at 314 for 9 in 50 overs.
Mustafizur Rahman finished his quota of 10 overs with 59 for 5.
Bangladesh needed to win today’s match against India to have their semi-final hopes alive. India have now secured the much-needed semi-final berth, while England, New Zealand and Pakistan will have to fight out for the remaining two places.
Reacting to his century, Rohit said, “I had a great feeling the pitch was good to bat on so initially I wanted to take some time and see where we go from there. Once you are set I was trying to put pressure on the bowlers.”
Scores in brief:
India 314-9 (50 overs): Rohit 104, Mustafizur 5-59
Bangladesh 286 (48 overs): Shakib 66, Bumrah 4-55