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India 176 for 3 (Rohit 89, Raina 47, Dhawan 35, Rubel 2-27) beat Bangladesh 159 for 6 (Rahim 72*, Sunder 3-22) by 17 runs
Colombo: India advance to final with 17-run win after Bangladesh were kept to 159 for 6 in a chase of 177.
India posted 176 for 3 and got over the line courtesy brilliant spin bowling by Washington Sundar (4-0-22-3) and Yuzvendra Chahal (4-0-21-1).
Mushfiqur Rahim battled hard and became the first Bangladeshi to slam consecutive T20I fifties, but needed company.
In pursuit of 177, Bangladesh were off to a poor start. Tamim Iqbal looked solid from the onset, but lost momentum courtesy fall of wickets in the other end.
Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar perished soon, but Tamim kept the runs coming. He bludgeoned Shardul Thakur for 19 runs, including three fours and a six.
Nonetheless, just like Sarkar and Liton’s wickets, Sundar removed Tamim as well. Sundar is now the leading wicket-taker of the tournament.
At 40 for 3, Mahmudullah joined in-form batsman Rahim. Mahmudullah struck consecutive boundaries to get off the mark, and Rahim carried on from where he left during Saturday’s match-winning knock versus Sri Lanka.
Chahal sent Mahmudullah back to the hut. The Bangladesh skipper lost his patience, and fell on a poorly-timed pull.
Rahim struck a fluent 65 run stand stand with Sabbir Rahman -- the best fifth wicket partnership for Bangladesh. The duo targetted Vijay Shankar, and Mohammad Siraj. Rahim, in particular, read the deliveries well and played impressive shots.
He picked the bowlers, and ensured to get maximum from them. In addition, he kept Sabbir on his toes with his shot selection.
Requiring 73 off 42 balls, Bangladesh were very much in the hunt. Needing slightly more than 10, they knew they had in-form Rahim in the middle. However, things became tough with tidy overs from Sundar and Shankar. Sundar kept it outside off stump, and stuck to the plan without going overboard. Shankar used the slower deliveries from time to time.
Rahman departed in the 17th over. Thakur bounced back beautifully after being struck for 19 runs in his first over, and removed Rahman with a slower one. Rahim didn’t stop though. He applied scoop shot, and found ways of scoring despite the required run-rate climbing up.
Earlier, Indian captain had not scored a fifty in his last seven innings, his leanest patch since being promoted as an opener in 2013 against Australia in Rajkot.
However, he overcame his poor run in fine style by smashing his 13th fifty off 42 balls
After a scrappy start in the first over bowled by Abu Nider, Rohit got going with a punch wide of mid-on off Nazmul Islam. In the third over bowled by Rubel Hossain, the right-hander miscued a lofted shot but was lucky that the ball fell just out of the reach of Nider running back from mid-on.
Capitalising on the life, Rohit slog swept Mehidy Hasan into the stands over deep mid wicket for his first six.
After edging a back-of-the-hand slower delivery from Nider to third man, Rohit neared his landmark by lofting Nazmul Islam over long on for his second six.
A swept four past short fine leg off left-arm pacer Nider and a slap through point helped Rohit get to his second fifty in Sri Lanka in this format.
At the toss, Rohit calmly stated he was not worried with his form. This knock has boosted India’s top order and has given them plenty of impetus ahead of a potential final.
He was eventually dismissed for 89 when he was run out in the last ball of India’s innings.
