ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli star as India cruise into final meeting with Pakistan

Sport360 staff 21:21 15/06/2017
India will meet Pakistan in Sunday's final.

Rohit Sharma (123* off 129 balls) and Virat Kohli (96* off 78 balls) starred as defending champions India cruised into the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy final after a nine-wicket win over Bangladesh at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Thursday.

Chasing a target of 265, India got off to a brilliant start with Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan (46 off 34 balls) adding 87 runs for the opening wicket.

Dhawan, especially, was very aggressive as he hit seven fours and one six during his stay at the crease.

There was no respite for the Bangladesh bowlers even after Dhawan’s dismissal as Kohli joined Rohit in the middle and the duo made sure that India were in complete control with an unbeaten 202-run partnership.

In the end, India reached the target with 9.5 overs to spare.

Earlier, the Indian bowlers did a good job to restrict Bangladesh to 264-7 in their 50 overs after Tamim Iqbal (70 off 82 balls) and Mushfiqur Rahim (61 off 85 balls) added a century-stand together.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar had got India off to a good start, picking up two wickets with the new ball to reduce Bangladesh to 31-2. Tamim and Mushfiqur, then, seemed to have given their side a brilliant platform as they put on a 123-run partnership for the third wicket.

The decision to bring on part-time spinner Kedar Jadhav was a big turning point in the match as he took the wickets of both the set batsmen. The 32-year-old managed to have impressive bowling figures of 6-0-22-2 at the end of his spell.

Jasprit Bumrah followed up the good work done by Jadhav, with a couple of wickets of his own as Bangladesh went from 154-2 to 229-7. A few boundaries from captain Mashrafe Mortaza (30* off 25 balls) helped Bangladesh get to 264, a total that was far from enough in the end.

India will now face arch-rivals Pakistan in what will be a highly-anticipated final at The Oval on Sunday.

BRIEF SCORES

Bangladesh 264-7, 50 overs [Tamim 70, Mushfiqur 61, Jadhav 2-22] lost to India 265-1, 40.1 overs [Rohit 123*, Kohli 96*, Mortaza 1-29] by nine wickets.

Player of the Match – Rohit Sharma.

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