Quarter Final 2 : India vs. Bangladesh : Match report

 The second Quarter Final also turned out to be yet another one-sided encounter. The Bangladeshi tigers unfortunately could not repeat their 2007 performance here. Going into the game India were always the favourites and they maintained their standard against Bangladesh too. India is yet to lose a match in this edition of the World Cup as MS Dhoni led side have shown tremendous capabilities and a strong team-spirit. In the beginning of the World Cup , questions were raised upon the pace battery of India as they showed some bad performances in the Tri-Series and the earlier series. But now it seems that they have answered those! With the spinners assisting them well by maintaining the run flow, the Indian bowlers have taken 70 wickets in the last 7 games , bowling out the opponent every single time they took the field.

Now , talking about the game , MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first with a view to post a competitive total on the board. And the openers responded to the strategy as they put on a solid opening partnership with the first wicket falling with 75 runs already scored. Shikhar Dhawan was the batsman who departed and in came Kohli! However his stay at the crease was not more than 8 balls as Rubel sent him back to the pavilion. Now, Rohit was joined by Ajinkya Rahane. He too looked a little bit rusty as he slogged his way to 19 off 37 balls with just a single four. India were now 4 down as their best No. 5 batsman came in to join Sharma – Suresh Raina who has hardly got any opportunities in the tournament. It was a good opportunity for Raina to get some more runs under his belt. He was full of confidence , coming in after scoring a 100 in the previous game. Raina again showed his brilliance by scoring a brisk 65 runs off 57 deliveries before top-edging a short delivery. Rohit was still there looking to secure one end. The lower middle order was led by Jadeja who scored 23 off 10 and this led to them posting 302 for 6 at the end of 50 overs.

The Bangladeshi batsman came out to bat with a huge score to chase down. They seemed a little defensive at the start but Tamim Iqbal was firing when he hit 3 fours off an over. But his stay was cut short by Umesh Yadav. Imrul Kayes , the second opener , was then run out which marked the downfall of the side. The rest of the batsmen never looked dangerous and with India chipping in with wickets at regular intervals , they were denied a World Cup Semi-Final berth. Finally they were bowled out for 193 in 45 overs. 

Rohit Sharma was adjudged the MoM for his brilliant performance with the bat!

Some Images from the game :

A statistical view :