Mishra spins his web around Bangladesh to seal semi-final spot

Sport360 staff 11:45 29/03/2014
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  • Another fruitful outing: India spinner Amit Mishra (c) picked up 3-26.

    Leg-spinner Amit Mishra continued his awesome form as India roared into the semi-finals of the World T20 with an eight-wicket demolition of hosts Bangladesh in Dhaka.

    Mishra, who was Man of the Match in both the previous wins against Pakistan and the West Indies, finished with 3-26 as Bangladesh were restricted to 138-7 in the group two match of the Super-10s.

    India surpassed the modest target with nine deliveries to spare to record their third successive win and book a semi-final berth even before their last league match against Australia on Sunday.

    Rohit Sharma made 56 and Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 57, the pair sharing a 100-run stand for the second wicket after Shikhar Dhawan had been dismissed for one in the third over.

    Sharma was caught at point off Mashrafe Mortaza in the 16th over when 26 more were needed for victory, but skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni sealed the win with a six off Ziaur Rahman.

    The victory marks India’s first semi-final appearance in the tournament since winning the inaugural title in South Africa in 2007, but Dhoni ruled out any celebrations.

    “No celebrations at all because the next few games are going to be extremely tough,” the Indian captain said. “I had not batted for a while, so I asked Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) if I could go in ahead of him.

    “It’s been easy for us so far, but there is nothing we can do about the lack of challenge.”

    Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin chipped in with 2-15 as Bangladesh batsmen faltered in front of a sell-out home crowd of 25,000 at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.

    Opener Anamul Haque topscored with 44, but it was Mohammad Mahmudullah’s unbeaten 32 off 23 balls that boosted the hosts after they were reduced to 82-5.

    Mahmudullah, who hit five fours and a six, put on 49 for the sixth wicket with Nasir Hossain. Bangladesh slipped to 21-3 by the fifth over after Ashwin dismissed Tamim Iqbal and Shamsur Rahman off successive deliveries.

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