Twitter Reactions: Clinical India seal their semi-final spot; knock Bangladesh out of the World Cup

India have knocked Bangladesh out of the 2019 World Cup. They also sealed their semi-final spot and have strengthened their second position with a clinical win of 32 runs. Rohit Sharma starred for India with the bat scoring his fourth ton of the tournament while KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and MS Dhoni played supportive roles to propel the team to an above par total on a tough pitch. In response, Bangladesh were always there with the required run-rate but lost too many wickets in the middle overs and despite a fight from the lower-order, fell short.

The steep chase began with Bangladesh openers playing cautiously. But Tamim Iqbal’s underwhelming tournament continued with Mohammed Shami castling him. Soumya Sarkar looked glorious during his staying the middle but as it has been all tournament, he threw it away trying to swat a wide delivery by Hardik Pandya. Shakib Al Hasan, meanwhile, got into his elements and started churning out crucial boundaries.

He once again looked a class apart on the day and went on to notch up yet another half-century. Mushfiqur Rahim actually lent stability to the innings and just when India were starting to feel nervous about the growing partnership between the veterans, Yuzvendra Chahal struck to send back the Bangladesh wicket-keeper.

Soon Shakib got out on 66 and he was deemed to be their last hope in the chase. But Sabbir Rahman and Mohammad Saifuddin kept the Tigers in the chase all the time with a brilliant partnership. But Indi kept hitting back with wickets and despite the latter’s exceptional half-century, Bangladesh fell short of the target by 28 runs. Jasprit Bumrah was too good for the Tiger’s tail-enders and cleaned them up to end with 4/55.

Rohit and Rahul propel India

After opting to bat first, India got off to a brilliant start courtesy of their openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. While the latter took a little bit of time early on, his partner got going from the word go. There was nothing in the surface for the pacers and it was smooth sailing for the duo. To add more agony, Tamim Iqbal dropped Rohit early in the innings and India’s vice-captain made Bangladesh pay. There was no looking back for him then as Rohit went on to smash his 26th ODI century.

This was also his fourth century in this World Cup. Meanwhile, KL Rahul had also got into his elements and he played some eye-catching strokes as well. The duo added 180 runs together in less than 30 overs before the part-timer Soumya Sarkar removed the centurion. Soon Rahul followed him in the dressing room and missed out on a well-deserved century. Rishabh Pant was once again sent at number four and he got going almost immediately.

Along with Virat Kohli, the youngster added 42 runs in quick time before Mustafizur got the better of the Indian captain. Kohli missed out on his sixth consecutive half-century of the tournament. But Pant kept scoring boundaries at the other end even as the ball started to grip into the surface a bit more.

Pant missed out on his maiden ODI half-century by a whisker but did enough to give the momentum to the team. Dinesh Karthik couldn’t do much in his first game of the tournament but MS Dhoni made sure yet again that India finished with a decent score after a brilliant start. Though he couldn’t tee off in the last over and was dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman who was just brilliant with his variations.

India lost three wickets in the final over to finish on 314 runs for the loss of nine wickets after 50 overs. Mustafizur finished with exceptional figures of 5/59 as Bangladesh managed to claw back into the game somewhat. But still, the score proved more than enough for the Tigers and they were knocked out of the tournament.

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