India ease to victory over Bangladesh

10 April 2012

Virat Kohli struck an undefeated century as India cruised to a six-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the triangular one-day series in Dhaka.

India again performed strongly in the field to reduce Bangladesh to 95 for five, but Shakib Al Hasan hit an excellent 85 and Mahmudullah scored an undefeated 64, the duo adding 106 for the sixth wicket as Bangladesh finished with 247 for six.

That target hardly tested India as Kohli made 102 not out and the rest of the order batted around him as the visitors, who will meet Sri Lanka in the final, breezed to victory with seven overs to spare.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni won his first toss in the series and chose to field, a decision which was backed by an incisive effort from new-ball bowlers Sudeep Tyagi and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth.

As he did yesterday against Sri Lanka, Tyagi again secured an early breakthrough, claiming Imrul Kayes in his second over with the new ball.

Sreesanth then removed Mohammad Ashraful in the next over, bowling the former captain via an inside edge that deflected off the pad, his dismissal leaving the home side in some trouble.

Raqibul Hasan then rebuilt and had added 45 for the third wicket with Tamim Iqbal when Ashish Nehra - back in the team in place of Zaheer Khan who was rested - snared Tamim.

Raqibul was then run out by Yuvraj Singh, who also claimed Mushfiqur Rahim in his first spell to leave the home side in disarray at 95 for five.

Shakib and Mahmudullah, however, rescued the home side with a gritty display, Shakib reaching his 13th ODI half-century in 75 deliveries en route.

He added 35 more to his score from only 22 deliveries, but fell while attempting to force the pace immediately after the powerplay was taken.

Mahmudullah also went past the half-century mark and together with Naeem Islam (22 off 14) helped Bangladesh finish on a high.

Dinesh Karthik and Gambhir again gave India's chase a solid start, the opening batsmen adding 64 in just under 12 overs.

Shafiul Islam then extracted Karthik and Naeem gave his side a sniff of hope with the wickets of Gambhir and Yuvraj in quick succession, but Kohli and Dhoni restored order with a no-risk approach.

Kohli reached his sixth ODI half-century off just 47 deliveries, his second consecutive 50 in this series and had added 68 with Dhoni when the India captain departed, attempting to hit Shakib over the top but finding Kayes at mid-off.

Kohli was dropped on 83 by Ashraful in the deep and the middle-order batsman made the most of that reprieve by reaching his second ODI century and also bringing up India's victory by hitting Shakib for consecutive boundaries in the 42nd over.

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