India coasts to Champions final
India coasted into a Champions Trophy final against fierce rival Pakistan by beating Bangladesh by nine wickets yesterday ( New Zealand time), guided by an elegant century by Rohit Sharma and a surprising bowling performance by part- time spinner Kedar Jadhav.
Set a victory target of 265 by a Bangladesh team playing its first semifinal at a global tournament, India never looked in danger as Sharma hit an unbeaten 123 and was accompanied at the finish by captain Virat Kohli ( 96 not out).
They had an unbroken 178- run partnership off 153 balls for the second wicket as Bangladesh’s bowlers were smashed around Edgbaston, with Kohli passing 8000 runs in ODIs and becoming the quickest to reach that milestone.
The defending champions reached their target with 9.5 overs remaining, setting up a final to savour at The Oval tomorrow and one that is sure to be watched by hundreds of millions of fans on TV.
India and Pakistan have only met in one International Cricket Council final — the 2007 Twenty20 showpiece, which was won by India. Pakistan has never won the Champions Trophy while India i s a t wotime winner. Pakistan bounced back from a 124- run loss to India in its opening group game — a performance Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur described as “shambolic” — to beat topranked South Africa, Sri Lanka and hosts England.
“The turnaround has been magnificent,” Kohli said. “They’ve beaten sides that looked really strong against them, but the belief just showed on the field the way they played together as a team. What we are going to try to do is repeat the similar sort of cricket that we have played so far . . . I don’t know there’s much that we need to change as a team.”
Bangladesh, overwhelmed in the biggest match in its history, looked in good shape on 154- 2 after being put into bat but lost Tamim Iqbal ( 70) and Mushfiqur Rahim ( 61) to Jadhav — an innocuous- looking bowler with an ungainly style. His figures of 2- 22 off six overs were surprising given he is rarely used by India.
“His wickets were honestly a bonus,” Kohli said. “It ended up changing the whole game for us.”
Bangladesh finished on 264- 7, which was always unlikely to be too short on a good pitch.
Sharma’s innings was virtually chanceless, a masterclass that featured almost every stroke in the book. By the time he’d reached his 50, off 47 balls, he had already caressed two square drives, a straight drive and a wristy shot through midwicket to the boundary.
He hooked Mustafizur Rahman for six to bring up his century and has now scored 91, 78, 12 and 123 not out this tournament, which he came into off the back of an intense IPL campaign. Sharma shared an 87- run stand with Shikhar Dhawan before the lefthander sliced Mashrafe Mortaza to point for 46, his second- lowest score.
Kohli was also a joy to watch, hitting 13 fours in his 78- ball knock as Bangladesh’s bowling became increasingly untidy.
Mustafizur, arguably Bangladesh’s top bowler, went for nearly 9 per over in finishing with 53 runs off his six overs.
The match turned when Jadhav got through Tamim’s attempted slogsweep and bowled him for 154- 3 after 28 overs, before his full toss was dragged by Mushfiqur straight to Kohli at midwicket for 184- 5.
“We could have scored 300 or 320, but once they got our two set batsman out, that was a big setback for us,” Mortaza said.
“We have some experienced players now and hopefully next time we will come strongly.”