India breeze into ICC World T20 2014 semi-finals with 8-wicket win over Bangladesh

March 29, 2014

Dhaka, Mar 29: India qualified for the semi-finals of the ICC World T20 2014 with an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh at Dhaka on March 28. Half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli breezed India to the victory in 18.3 overs. MS Dhoni smashed the winning runs with a trademark six down the ground. India were chasing a 139-run target in the Group 2 Super 10 match in the T20 World Cup.

India_BangladeshMS Dhoni‘s men needed only a win to qualify for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup after West Indies had beaten Australia earlier in the day. India were hardly troubled in their run-chase by a below-average Bangladesh side.

The first two overs of India’s run-chase only yielded three runs each. The first delivery of the third over was a short delivery from Al-Amin Hossain. Rohit pulled it away for a six over deep square-leg. There was hardly any power behind the shot, still it sailed way into the stands. Dhawan was then bowled by Al-Amin. He came down the track and inside-edged a full delivery onto the stumps in the third over.

Al-Amin bowled a full and wide delivery and Kohli played a brilliant lofted cover-drive and got a six in the fifth over. He actually went down on one knee and got underneath the delivery. Al-Amin was then called harshly for a front-foot no-ball. Rohit hit the free-hit high in the air and was caught at mid-on.

Rohit came down the track to Shakib Al Hasan and hit one over wide mid-on for a four. Next ball, he came forward again and drove one on the up towards deep cover and got consecutive fours. Mashrafe Mortaza came into the attack in the seventh over. He bowled a straight back of a length delivery and Rohit guided it wide of the short third-man fielder and got another four.

In the ninth over, Bangladesh missed a glorious chance to dismiss Rohit. He hit one high in the air off Ziaur Rahman. Two fielders converged at deep mid-wicket and the catch was dropped. Rohit then pulled a short delivery in the air for a four towards deep mid-wicket.

Mushfiqur Rahim threw the ball to Sohag Gazi to bowl his off-spin in the 10th over. Kohli came down the track and whipped one through mid-wicket for a four. Sohag then offered width and Kohli went back and punched the ball wide of the cover fielder and got another four. Kohli got into the 40s with a four towards third-man. Ziaur bowled one outside off-stump and Kohli opened the face of the bat to guide the delivery.

Kohli pulled one from Mahmudullah towards long-leg and got two runs. That was the 100 for India in the 14th over. Rohit then reached his seventh half-century on the last ball of the 14th over with a single. Rohit cut a short and wide delivery from Al-Amin for a four behind point for a four. Kohli soon got to his half-century with a single towards cover.

Bangladesh did get a breakthrough as Rohit flashed at a low full-toss from Mortaza. The ball was caught by Nasir Hossain at point. Rohit had to depart for 56 off 44 deliveries with five fours and one six. That also ended a 100-run partnership between Rohit and Kohli for the second wicket.

Dhoni walked out into bat. He hit a length delivery from Al-Amin high in the air towards long-off. The ball just bounced short of the boundary line and went for a four. He then pulled a wide delivery for a six over wide long-on. Dhoni then hit the wining runs with a six down the ground in the 19th over.

Virat Kohli (left) and Rohit Sharma each scored half-centuries for India. They shared a 100-run partnership for the second wicket © Getty Images

Earlier, India captain Dhoni had won the toss and elected to bowl first. India went in with an unchanged side that beat Pakistan and West Indies in the group. A win for India would see them qualify for the semi-finals. Bangladesh’s innings never saw any real momentum as they kept losing wickets at the wrong time.

They eventually posted a total of 138 for seven in their 20 overs. Anamul Haque top-scored with 44 and Mahmudullah was unbeaten on 33 for Bangladesh. Amit Mishra took three wickets and Ravichandran Ashwin took two. Both the spinners were at one time on a hat-trick. Neither could complete the milestone.

The total did not look enough to halt India and it proved true in the end. Although nine deliveries were remaining, it was far more easy for India. Ashwin was the Man of the Match for his two wickets for 15 runs.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh 138 for 7 in 20 overs (Anamul Haque 44, Mushfiqur Rahim 24, Mahmudullah 33*; Ravichandran Ashwin 2 for 15, Amit Mishra 3 for 26) lost to India 141 for 2 in 18.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 56, Virat Kohli 57*, MS Dhoni 22*) by 8 wickets.

Man of the Match: Ravichandran Ashwin

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News Network
February 13,2020

Feb 13: Veteran India batsman Suresh Raina feels Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the best captain India ever had.

Raina and Dhoni play for the same IPL franchise -- the Chennai Super Kings --, which is also led by the latter.

"I think we have the best captain who has changed the Indian team like anything. Now we have that same aura in our dressing room," Raina said on 'The Super Kings show' on Star Sports Tamil.

The 38-year-old Dhoni has retired from Test cricket but his future in the limited overs formats is a subject of intense speculation.

The two-time World Cup-winning former captain took a break from cricket after India's exit from the 2019 World Cup in England. He is set to be back in action at the IPL, where he will captain the CSK, starting March 23.

With three restricted stands at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai finally being reopened, Raina urged the fans to fill the venue in every CSK home game.

"We have all the seats available. Hopefully, we'll have more fans now so that there is it will be more energy on the field," the 33-year-old Raina, a former India batsman, said.

Raina, who last played for India in 2018, also expressed his excitement about the prospect of playing with CSK's latest acquisitions.

"This year we have a lot of new talent in our team. Piyush (Chawla) is there, then we have Hazelwood, Sam Curran, Sai Kishore from Tamil Nadu, he has been bowling really well for them. So, I think we have a lot of mixture of youngsters and seniors."

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March 2,2020

Mar 2: Indian captain Virat Kohli was left frustrated and deflated as New Zealand won the second Test inside three days in Christchurch on Monday to sweep the series.

India started the day at 90 for six and were all out for 124, before New Zealand chased down the required 132 to win for the loss of three wickets in 36 overs.

It ended a disappointing tour for India and Kohli as New Zealand, who won the first Test by 10 wickets early on day four, wrapped up the series with ease.

New Zealand are now unbeaten in their last 13 home Tests, winning nine of them, and in the past decade their record as hosts is played 39, won 20, drawn 13 and lost five.

In the latest series, on traditional New Zealand green wickets, India managed scores of 165, 191, 242 and 124, reflecting the low contributions from Kohli of 2, 19, 3 and 14.

Kohli came to New Zealand as the world's top Test batsman and oozing charm as he described New Zealand as the “nice guys” of cricket.

But during the series he lost his top ranking to Australian Steve Smith and when Kane Williamson went for three in the first innings of the second Test the pressure showed when he gave the New Zealand skipper a very animated send-off.

There was further evidence of frustration when he was caught on camera yelling an obscenity at a group of New Zealand supporters on Sunday.

The end came quickly for India on day three as Tim Southee and Trent Boult tormented the batsmen with their variety of inswing and outswing deliveries targeting both sides of the stumps.

Hanuma Vihari was the first to fall, in Southee's second over, when he turned a legside delivery too fine and was caught by BJ Watling diving to his left.

Five balls later and with no addition to the score, India's other overnight batsman Rishabh Pant was caught behind off a Boult delivery that swung away.

Mohammed Shami was caught for five by Tom Blundell at deep mid-wicket and Jasprit Bumrah was run out when trying to give the strike to Ravindra Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 16.

Boult and Southee signed for most of the dismissals with Boult taking four for 28 and Southee three for 36. The swing pair accounted for 25 of the 40 Indian wickets in the series.

There was enough seam and swing available for India to keep the New Zealand batsmen guessing but Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were unable to apply consistent pressure and Mohammed Shami was troubled by a sore shoulder.

New Zealand coasted through a century opening stand by Tom Latham and Blundell before losing three quick wickets.

Latham notched his 18th half-century and second of the Test before he was caught behind off Yadav for 52, Kane Williamson had a short stay for five, and Blundell went for 55.

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News Network
January 8,2020

Indore, Jan 8:  India skipper Virat Kohli has added yet another feather to his cap by becoming the fastest player to score 1,000 runs in T20I cricket as a captain. Kohli played an unbeaten knock of 30 during India''s seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second T20I of the ongoing three-match series on Tuesday evening.

Kohli achieved the milestone of scoring 1,000 runs as captain in his 30th T20I inning. He is the second Indian and sixth overall after MS Dhoni to have achieved the feat. Dhoni had scored 1112 runs in 62 T20I games as captain.

Faf du Plessis (1273 runs from 40 games), Kane Williamson (1083 runs in 39 games), Eoin Morgan (1013 runs in 43 games) and Ireland''s William Porterfield (1002 runs in 56 games) are other captains on the list.

During India''s emphatic victory at the Holkar Stadium, Kohli also surpassed team-mate Rohit Sharma, who has been rested for the series, as the top run-getter in the T20Is. Kohli now has 2663 runs from 71 innings.

Both had finished 2019 as joint top-scorers in T20Is, with 2633 runs each.

India, already with an unassailable lead of 1-0 in the series, will now face Sri Lanka in the final T20I on Friday in Pune. The first match between the two teams was called off without a ball being bowled due to wet patches on the pitch in Guwahati last Sunday.

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