CT 2017, India v Bangladesh Semi-final - Who Said What

Virat Kohli invited Bangladesh to bat first and right at the onset of the game the Team India had the advantage given the overcast conditions and the pace bowling attack they boast off. Bhuvneshwar Kumar got them the early breakthroughs but then Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim got together an important partnership worth 123 runs to get the team on track for a big total.

While a total in excess of 300 looked pretty much reachable the Indians were desperate to make a comeback. Virat brought in Kedar Jadhav into the attack and he broke the partnership. He sent both the set batters back and the innings was derailed. Later in the innings, as the Indian death bowlers were in the attack, run scoring was not easy and all they managed was 264.

India in their chase were professional, clinical and authoritative. Starting with the partnership between Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan the team got off to a blazing start which set the tone for the rest of the chase. The Bangladeshi bowlers didn’t have much on offer from the surface and couldn’t force the Indian batsmen to make capitalising mistakes.

Dhawan got out for 46 but there on it was a clean slate. Both Rohit and skipper Virat Kohli ruled over the Bangladesh bowlers and were right on top till the winning runs were hit. Rohit got to his 11th ODI hundred while Virat ended the inning just 4 short of his century. Team India got over the line in 40.1 overs with 9 wickets in hand.

Pretty obviously Rohit was awarded the Man of the Match

“Was a great knock, especially when it comes on a winning note. Trying to get a big one, in the last two games. Was quite determined today. Wicket was brilliant. I kept telling myself to bat as much as possible. We’ve been playing good cricket. One last hurdle, a big game against Pakistan. It felt like he was batting overnight (Virat). As a captain, he was brilliant.”

Virat Kohli

The Indian skipper thought it was a near perfect effort from his team as they were spot on in all departments of the game. Virat Kohli said: “Another complete game. We needed to have a clean, collective game. We didn’t expect to win by nine wickets, but that’s the quality of our top order.

In his view, Kedar wasn’t the surprise package and he considers the part-timer a smart bowler.

“He’s not a surprise package, he’s a smart guy, he knows where to pitch the ball and see what the wicket is offering. it could have been close to 300.”

Talking about his own batting and the Indian middle order that hasn’t really been tested in the tournament thus far Virat said:

“I wanted to give myself some time, 10-15 balls. Last time, we lost a wicket, so I had to adapt, I like those challenges. I grew in confidence. When you’re coming onto the short ball, you know you’re playing well. We’re taking it as any other game, I know that’s boring but that’s our mindset. Never a worry when you’re middle order isn’t batting too much. Everyone is hitting the ball magnificently in practice.”

Mashrafe Mortaza

He would be proud of the effort his team put up but also disappointed. They made it to the first semi-final in Champions Trophy and the Indian team was certainly deserved to win with the kind of performance they put up.

In the post-match presentation, Mortaza said: “Obviously we could have got to 300-320. Once Kedar came in, he restricted us by picking those 2 wickets. We have some players who are youngsters who could not go through in the tournament. We have some experienced players as well who would come in strongly next time. We need to be mentally strong. Skill wise we are fine. Once, you are playing a game like this, you need to be mentally strong.”