Rohit, Kohli script emphatic victory as India set final date with Pakistan
Birmingham: A little over thirty two years ago in 1985 when India and Pakistan last met in the final of a major 50 overs event at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a banner read ‘Match between bus conductors and tram drivers’. That was then in March 10, now it is June 14, 2017 and one can be sure that if such a banner appears again June 18 at the Oval when the two meet in the final of the Champions Trophy, the ICC will be the first to react and pull it down.
These two countries have filled the coffers of the ICC like no other nation has ever done and cricket’s appeal has grown simply because the large presence of Indian and Pakistan fans in all the cricket grounds across the world. It is also symbolic that the two are countries are playing the final on the soil of a country which once ruled them and the place where cricket was born. Historian Ramchandra Guha, who recently quit the Supreme Court-appointed committee of administrators to run the BCCI, would have definitely said, “Cricket has turned a full circle.”
Bangladesh was never expected to give India a fight and in the end it turned out to be a one-sided affair as the Men in Blue cantered home by nine wickets. Rohit Sharma (123 n o, 129b, 15×4, 1×6), Virat Kohli (96 n o, 78b, 13×4) and Sikhar Dhawan (46, 34b, 7×4, 1×6) made mincemeat out of the Bangladesh bowling attack as India reached their victory target with plenty of overs to spare. Bangladesh had earlier scored 264 for seven against some tight and restrictive bowling by the Indian pacers and spinners.
Dhawan was flamboyant personified at the top repeatedly hitting Mustafizur Rahman over point for boundaries. Rohit on the other hand was his usual languid self, driving effortlessly through the covers. When the ball was short, he was quick to lean back and play the pull, hook and cut with ferocity. The last time, the two sides had met in the quarterfinals of the 2015 World Cup, the Mumbaikar had also scored a century. But then Bangladesh had felt ‘cheated’ as Rohit had escaped being dismissed off a debatable ‘no ball’. It had led to the then ICC chairman resigning from his post in protest. However, Bangladesh will have nothing to complain the way Rohit dismantled their bowling, Thursday.
Rohit ruled the turf and after Dhawan’s dismissal he found in skipper Kohli, the perfect ally to take away the game from Bangladesh. The two put on an unbeaten stand of 178 runs for the second wicket and dashed hopes of Yuvraj Singh of making it a memorable 300th game.
Kohli batted the way only he can… there was the slap through the covers, the closed-bat flick through mid-wicket interspersed with the straight drive past the bowler and India were home in a canter. In the process he became the quickest player to 8,000 ODI runs and considering his age, many more records are on the anvil.
Earlier, the only time it looked Bangladesh were making a battle out of the game was when Tamim Iqbal (70, 82b, 7×4, 1×6) and Mushfiqur Rahim (61, 85b, 4×4) put on 123 runs for the third wicket. But once part-timer Kedar Jadhav (2/22) went through the defences of Iqbal, the hopes of Bangladesh vanished in a jiffy. The rest flattered to deceive and 265 on the docile Edgbaston track was never going to bother the Indians… and it never did.
Jadhav went through the defences of Iqbal trying to slog sweep and then also sent the Bangla skipper back. Mushfiqur failed to keep a flick down and was snapped up by Kohli at short mid-wicket.
Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza (30 n o, 25b, 5×4) added valuable runs down the order, but then he was always fighting a losing cause as India by then had taken control of the game.
Kohli credits Dhoni for game-changing decision
India skipper Virat Kohli said after the match here Thursday that the game-changing decision to bring in Kedar Jadhav into the bowling attack was jointly taken by him and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Jadhav dismissed set batsmen Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim in quick succession to get India back on track in the second semifinal of the Champions Trophy here.
“Wickets from Kedar were honestly a bonus as Hardik went for a few runs in his first three. So we wanted to give him a bit of a break and cover up overs through Kedar and with one left-handed batsmen (Tamim), we knew that he had the ability to get in two, three, dot balls every over. But it ended up changing the whole game for us,” an elated Kohli said.
“Yeah, when moves like this pay off it definitely makes you feel happy. However, I won’t take the whole credit for it. Obviously, I asked MS (Dhoni), as well, and we both decided that Kedar is a good option and he bowled really well. All credit to him.
“Kedar doesn’t bowl much in the nets, but he is a smart cricketer. He knows where the batsmen get troubled, and if you can think like a batter when you are bowling, it’s obviously a bit of an advantage to any bowler. So I think that today he executed plans perfectly,” added Kohli.
For his new ball bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the captain was effusive in his praise.
“Well, they were outstanding. Especially, the last two games they have been terrific initially and in the later stages, as well, their wicket-taking ability is something that the opposition is aware of. So they are always careful going hard against these two guys, and yeah, their length after the Sri Lanka game has been impeccable,” pointed out Kohli.
“Even in conditions, which are not offering too much, they are bowling such lines that we can produce wicket-taking opportunities,” he added.
However, Kohli was once more avoided praising Kumble when someone asked him about the contributions of the back room staff. “Everybody contributes, it is their hard work that makes such wins possible,” he stated. ‘Personally I would say that the last two years our batting coach Sanjay Bangar and Raghu (throwdown man) has been tremendous. My batting has gone to a different level because of them. They have contributed a lot to my batting,” informed Kohli.
Stats facts
175 – No. of innings taken by Virat Kohli to reach the 8,000-run mark quickest in ODI cricket. The earlier record belonged to South African AB de Villiers who had taken 182 innings to reach the mile stone
680 – No. of runs scored by Shikhar Dhawan in Champions Trophy making him the highest run-getter in the tournament. He overtook Sourav Ganguly’s earlier record of 665 runs
2 – Shikhar Dhawan became the only batsman to score 300 or more runs in two editions of the Champions Trophy. No other batsman has achieved this feat. Dhawan scored 363 runs from five innings in 2013. In this tournament he has so far scored 317 runs from four innings
11– No of centuries scored by Rohit Sharma in ODIs. His innings of 123 not out is his second century against Bangladesh
4 – The number of times India have entered finals of ICC events, the most by any country. Sri Lanka are second with three final appearances
2 – Number of times, India have beaten Bangladesh by a margin of nine wickets
7 – No of times India have won at Edgbaston where they have played 10 ODIs
Dhawan has emerged as the highest run-getter in the Champions Trophy
