Dhaka: Riding high after a massive win over arch-rivals Pakistan in their first game, India comfortably brushed aside Bangladesh by seven wickets on Thursday to sail into the final of the Kitply Cup tri-series here. With a do-or-die match to play, Bangladesh, laid low by a huge loss to Pakistan, were looking for inspiration from their day of celebration in the 2007 World Cup, where India were humbled and later knocked out in the first round. But inspiration is one thing, repeating the act, another.
For Bangladesh to make the final despite a huge defeat to Pakistan, the hosts had a clear-cut job in front of them: to beat India by a handsome margin.
Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful had no hesitation in deciding to bat after calling the coin right on a batting beauty, but the hosts managed 222 all out, before Gautam Gambhir's fluent century and Virender Sehwag's blazing half-century put paid to the home side's hopes.
Sehwag came out firing on all cylinders as the right-hander brought up his fifty off just 29 balls before falling to Dollar Mahmud after sharing an opening wicket stand of 85. Gambhir, however, carried on his spectacular form to crack a superb century, his fifth in One-day Internationals, to set up a clinical run chase.
Gambhir remained not out on 107, collected off 101 balls, while Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh were the other men out, both for 26, as India reached their target with 14.5 overs to spare. Pakistan made the final by virtue of their win over Bangladesh.
The Bangladeshi innings followed a similar script that played out against Pakistan, as the early departure of openers Tamim Iqbal and Shahriar Nafees saw the hosts crawl in the early stages of the innings, before Raqibul Hasan's gritty 89, coupled with handy contributions from the lower order took them to a competitive total.
The hosts' run-getting lacked purpose at first as Ashraful and Raqibul Hasan ambled across for the ones while boundaries were hard to come by. Although the initial movement of the new ball was safely negotiated, the Bangladesh skipper failed to get going before he offered a return catch to Yusuf Pathan on 36, ending a 76-run third wicket partnership.
Raqibul Hasan was the lone bright spot in a sedate batting display as he spruced up the proceedings with a calculated fifty on the face of some disciplined bowling by the Indians, but missed a well deserved century in an attempt to push the scoring rate.
Alok Kapali (20), Mahmudullah (24) and Mashrafe Mortaza (13) chipped in with useful cameos at the death to boost their score to 222.
India's bowlers had a terrific start as Praveen Kumar struck in the first over of play without a run being scored. Rudra Pratap Singh, who got the nod ahead of Ishant Sharma for the game, scalped three wickets while Irfan Pathan chipped in with two. Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan bagged a wicket each.
Bangladesh were thumped by Pakistan in the opening fixture of the series on Sunday, while India overwhelmed their arch-rivals by a huge 140-run margin.
Source: http://www.cricketnext.com/news/gambhir-hundred-sets-up-indiapakistan-final/32119-13-single.html
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