Riding on a brilliant all-round display, India qualified for the finals of the Champions Trophy for the second consecutive time, where they will face none other than their arch-rivals Pakistan, a game which promises to be a belter.
India has reached this stage with two wins out of three games in the tournament, whereas, for Pakistan, they lost just one game too, which came against none other than India.
The way India humbled Bangladesh on Thursday, it would have given them a lot of confidence as never ever in the game, Bangladesh looked having even a bit of say. After winning the toss, Virat Kohli took the right decision to field first and India got the first wicket in the very first over. After getting one more early wicket, India had to wait for more than 20 overs for the third wicket but as a soon as they got Tamim Iqbal, wickets started coming and Bangladesh could manage a score of 264.
The total was never going to bee tricky for the Virat Kohli-led side and the only thing which could have kept Bangladesh in the game were quick wickets, which never happened. Shikhar Dhawan continued to score runs and laid a strong base with Rohit Sharma.
An undisturbed Rohit Sharma along with Virat Kohli took the team’s boat past the winning total, to crush Bangladesh and ensure a place in final of Champions Trophy for the second consecutive time.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli was confident of the team coming up with similar sort of show in the final. Here is what the Indian skipper said after the game –
Virat Kohli: “We had another complete game. When we won the toss, I expected another clean performance. With the ball, we never let them away. The two quick wickets got us the momentum. He has bowled in India as well. He is a smart guy. he knows where to pitch it. Had those guys carried on, we would have been chasing 300. I always try to give myself some time. Today was an opportunity for me to play the way I can. Credit to Rohit. To Shikhar as well. Hopefully, they can give us another good start in the finals. The side that gets less excited and has more composure will win the finals. We are very keen to get in the park for the final. It is never a worry when the guys in the middle order are not batting. Everybody is hitting the ball really well in the nets. One word for the crowd. They have been absolutely amazing in supporting us.”