Bangladesh ended their most successful World Cup campaign so far, finally going down to India by 109 runs in the second quarter-final on Thursday.Chasing a huge 303 to win, the Tigers crumbled under pressure to lose wickets at regular intervals and folded up for 193 in 45 overs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.After Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss India piled up a daunting 302 for six on the back of a masterly 137 by Rohit Sharma, who completed his first World Cup hundred with a slice of luck.Dhoni recorded his 100th win as captain, third player to achieve the feat after Australians Allan Border and Ricky Ponting.Bangladesh made a brisk start to their chase, with Tamim Iqbal’s 25 off 25 raising hopes. But he needlessly chased a wide ball off Umesh Yadav to be caught behind by MS Dhoni.The departure of the big-hitting opener was followed by a horrible run out of his opening partner Imrul Kayes one ball later. Apart from Kayes, all the top-order batsmen got promising
starts but none of them went on to score big or stay long enough to the Tigers in the hunt.With two centuries under his belt, much was expected off Mahmudullah. But he hooked a Mohammed Shami bouncer to be caught at deep fine leg for 21.Shikhar Dhawan juggled on the boundary ropes before managing to hold the catch at third attempt. Soumya Sarkar soon followed at his personal score of 29 just when he was looking good.Ravindra Jadeja ended Shakib Al Hasan’s uncharacteristic innings (34-ball 10) leaving the Tigers tottering at 104 for 5.Mushfiqur Rahim (27) fell to Yadav in the first ball of the batting power play to virtually end Bangladesh’s hopes for a semifinal berth.The pressure of the asking run rate proved too much for Sabbir Rahman (30) and Nasir Hossain (35).Nasir’s lively little cameo came to an end when he drove straight to cover, after having hit Ravindra Jadeja for back-to-back boundaries just before.The Tigers tailenders folded up without troubling the scoreboard much.The fact that most of Bangladesh’s top order batsmen fell in their twenties sums up the Tiger’s tale of woes. Unlike Rohit who curbed his natural attacking instincts initially and build up a big innings, the Bangladesh batsmen showed initial flourish but failed to build up.India had made a bright start, with Rohit and Dhawan putting on 75 for the first wicket.But when Dhawan (30) was beaten in flight by Shakib to be stumped, it shifted the momentum away from India. Bangladesh bowled with craft, guile and discipline to rein in the big-hitting Indians.Virat Kohli (3) and Ajinkya Rahane (19) never got going and India were pegged back at 113 for 3 when the latter fell in the 28th over.Bangladesh, though, could not keep a stranglehold on the game as their bowling and fielding went awry with skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza bringing himself on instead of Rubel Hossain or Taskin Ahmed.Rohit and Suresh Raina put India back in the game with anexcellent 122-run partnership. Under no big pressure, the pair scored freely and feasted on some poor bowling, but they did have fortune on their side.Raina had 10 to his name when he survived a close lbw review, with replays showing he was roughly 1mm from being given
out. Rohit, too, was lucky. He pulled a Rubel full toss straight to the fielder on the fence at square leg, but umpire Ian Gould deemed it a no-ball for height. Replays showed it was under the waist when Rohit played it.
The reprieve aside, Rohit batted superbly and brought up his maiden World Cup century—and his fourth in ODIs—before going on to post 137 in 126 balls.
The brilliant partnership ended when Raina top-edged Mashrafe as Mushfiq took the catch safely going back.
Rohit hit some lusty shots in the death overs to accelerate the Indian innings. His fine 126-ball innings ended when Taskin
yorked him with a full, fast and straight delivery.The platform laid by Rohit and Raina allowed India to accelerate and the reigning champions clobbered 97 runs in the final 10 overs.Rubel finished with figures of 1 for 56, while Taskin picked up 3
for 69 from his 10 overs. Both looked impressive except the occasional loose deliveries he bowled.