India beat Bangladesh by nine wickets to play the final against arch-rivals Pakistan.
Bangladesh’s third-wicket pair shared a stand of 123, but after they were out the Bangladesh’s innings started to falter and could only make a meagre total of 264 for 7. With India’s powerful top-order batting line up it was a total which never looked like being enough. This was convincingly proven by an unbeaten century (123 not out) of Rohit Sharma, fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan’s 46 and captain Virat Kohli’s – 96 not out. The target was achieved with nearly 10 overs to spare.
In the Indian performance the achievers and new records set were:
- Kohli become the fastest player to cross the 8,000 ODI runs barrier.
- Kedar Jadhav, a part-time spinner dismissed both of Bangladesh’s top-scorers Tamim Iqbal for 70 and Mushfiqur Rahim for 61 in a spell of two for 22 in 6 overs
- The unbroken partnership of 178 between Sharma and Kohli was a record for a one-day international at Edgbaston.
In the first Group B match, India pounded Pakistan by 124 runs. But since Pakistan convincingly won the later matches including the semi- final in which Pakistan crushed the tournament favourites England by eight wickets.
The Sunday final will be the 2nd Final of a major International Cricket Council tournament which the two Asian cricket giants will play. In the first and only final India beat Pakistan by a mere five runs in the 2007 World T20 final in Johannesburg.
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