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India galloped into the semifinals of the World Cup with a resounding 109-run victory over Bangladesh here on Thursday. Rohit Sharma crafted a century of the highest quality and stitched a crucial 122-run partnership with Suresh Raina as India overcame some early bother to post an imposing total of 302.

Bangladesh was dismissed for 193 in response. Umesh Yadav took four for 31 as India bowled out its opposition for a seventh straight time in the tournament.

Rohit Sharma reacts after reaching his century during the World Cup quarterfinal match against Bangladesh in Melbourne on Thursday.

Bangladesh, though, demonstrated that its progress into the last eight was no fluke. Rubel Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan bowled parsimonious early spells to tie India in knots.

Rohit, however, had other ideas. His 137 was as measured and responsible as it was an aesthetic delight. Raina did not hold back either, making a rapid 65 as India registered a sizeable score.

The victory was Dhoni’s 100th in 177 outings as captain. India, which will now feature in the second semifinal to be played on March 26 in Sydney, will face the winner of the Australia-Pakistan contest.

Scoreboard

Bangladesh innings (target: 303 runs from 50 overs)

Tamim Iqbal c Dhoni b Yadav 25; Imrul Kayes run out (Jadeja/Yadav) 5; Soumya Sarkar c Dhoni b Mohammed Shami 29; Mahmudullah c Dhawan b Mohammed Shami 21; Shakib Al Hasan c Mohammed Shami b Jadeja 10; Mushfiqur Rahim c Dhoni b Yadav 27; Sabbir Rahman c Mohammed Shami b Yadav 30; Nasir Hossain c Ashwin b Jadeja 35; Mashrafe Mortaza c Dhoni b Mohit Sharma 1; Rubel Hossain c Ashwin b Yadav 0; Taskin Ahmed not out 0

Extras: (b 1, lb 1, w 8) 10

Total (all out; 45 overs) 193 (4.28 runs per over)

Fall of wickets: 1—33, 2—33, 3—73, 4—90, 5—104, 6—139, 7—189, 8—192, 9—193, 10—193

India Bowling: Umesh Yadav 9—1—31—4, Mohammed Shami 8—1—37—2, Mohit Sharma 7—0—36—1, Ravichandran Ashwin 10—1—30—0, Suresh Raina 3—1—15—0 , Ravindra Jadeja 8—0—42—2.

...................

India innings: Rohit Sharma b Taskin 137; Shikhar Dhawan st Mushfiqur b Shakib 30; Virat Kohli c Mushfiqur b Rubel 3; Ajinkya Rahane c Shakib b Taskin 19; Suresh Raina c Mushfiqur b Mortaza 65; Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Nasir Hossain b Taskin 6; Ravindra Jadeja not out 23; Ravichandran Ashwin not out 3. Extras: (B—4, LB—7, W—3, NB—2) 16

Total: (for 6 wickets in 50 overs) 302

Fall of wickets: 1—75, 2—79, 3—115, 4—237, 5—273, 6—296.

Bangladesh Bowling: Mortaza 10—0—69—1, Taskin Ahmed 10—0—69—3, Nasir Hossain 9—0—35 —0, Mahmudullah 1—0—4—0, Rubel Hossain 10—0—56—1, Shakib Al Hasan 10—0—58—1.

Modi congratulates Indian team on entering WC semifinal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hailed the Indian cricket team after it beat Bangladesh to enter the semifinals of World Cup.

“Excellent game, excellent performance! Congrats yet again Team India,” Modi tweeted.

His tweet came soon after India beat Bangladesh by 109 runs in the quarterfinal match, played in Melbourne, and recorded its seventh consecutive win in the 2015 ICC World Cup. Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal too applauded the team’s effort.

Mr. Sonowal extended his wishes to the team for making last four stage of the mega-event and also congratulated Player-of-the-Match Rohit Sharma for his brilliant century.

In reply to India’s commendable 302 for six, Bangladesh were dismissed for a paltry 193 in 45 overs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Newly-elected BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur was also all praise for the team as he wrote on his twitter handle, “#WeWontGiveItBack ! Well Played Boys ! A billion cheers for Team India !”

Former Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who is also the president of the All India Football Federation, said the country is proud of its cricket team.

“Marvelous victory for #TeamIndia at the Quarter Finals! The nation is proud as Team India makes it to the Semi Finals. #CWC15 #INDvsBAN,"

The Minister of State for I-B, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore also wished Team India: “#IndvsBan Congratulations Team India. Keep Playing Well and Keep Winning,” Rathore’s twitter account said.

My catch a fluke: Dhoni

After his hundredth one-day win as captain, a result that put him above Hansie Cronje and below only Ricky Ponting (165) and Allan Border (107) and took India into the semifinals of the World Cup, M.S. Dhoni’s broadest grin was reserved for something far less monumental.

India captain and wicketkeeper M.S. Dhoni celebrates with team mates after catching Bangladesh batsman Soumya Sarkar during their Cricket World Cup match in Melbourne on Thursday

“About the catch,” he said, referring to his one-handed diving effort to get rid of Soumya Sarkar, “it’s a fluke and it happens, so let’s enjoy it, and hopefully it will happen more often.”

It wasn’t as if he wasn’t pleased with Thursday’s victory over Bangladesh, though. Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina were lauded by the skipper.

“They batted well. The wickets kept falling on the other side, and still Rohit kept himself very calm. His strike rate dropped, but still he knew if he was there and he played maximum overs, he could definitely score and score at a good pace.

“Raina — we all know he’s a natural stroke-maker. It’s always good to have somebody like him batting at five. Overall how they took the game forward was very crucial because one more wicket at that point of time and we could have ended up closer to 250.”

Praise for Ashwin

After dismissing a seventh team in seven matches, Dhoni was pleased with the bowling effort. But R. Ashwin’s contribution, he worried, would go unnoticed.

“Ash bowled really well. If you just look at the stats — you see 10 overs and no wickets. In India they don’t rate people high if you don’t take wickets. But if you see how he maintained and created that pressure, that was one of the reasons the batsmen had to go after the other fast bowlers and because of this we got wickets.

“We have got quite a few teams out in a row. It has never really happened with the Indian cricket team, so it’s definitely a big positive,” he said.

Dhoni was confident India would sustain its performance, irrespective of who (Australia or Pakistan) it faced in the semifinals.

“What’s important for us is we have scored runs in all the games, whether we have batted first or chased, and still we don’t have our batsmen in the top five run scorers list for the World Cup, which means everybody has chipped in.

“It is a good position to be in, especially in the knock-out stages. We’ll have to keep repeating what we have been doing; as simple as that. Maybe the individuals who get the wickets, they will change.

“The batsmen who score runs, the names will change, but still, we are scoring runs and we are taking wickets. That will be good for us.”

Commentary: India vs Bangladesh

MS Dhoni : It has been good. We can’t shy away from the fact that we are playing good cricket. Lot of credit needs to go to the support staff and the players. The good thing that there are not many players from our side in the leader board but we have been scoring runs. Bowling was an area we had to improve. In this tournament, the bowlers have done the job well. We were struggling before. It is difficult to pin point what happened. We have to keep doing the small things right. Fluke happens (on his catch, diving to his right). It was an important catch in that time. I just dive and the ball came and sat in my hands. It feels good when you take a brilliant catch. The lot of it has been because of how cricket is being played. The last few overs, the batsmen can score lot of runs. If the luck is on your side, you might get a bit of reverse swing. What matters is you are able to take wickets in the middle overs, otherwise the opposition will score 300 against you.

Marshafe Mortaza : We liked to bat first as well. We can’t explain that. They had a good partnership but we could not go through. 300 is always difficult to chase. 280 could have been better. I think except today, I think the fans will be happy. Most of the players are starting their careers. Most of us should be happy with our effort. We need to carry this forward. Hopefully this year will be exciting for us. Thank you to all the supporters, they have come out and kept supporting us all through the tournament.

Rohit Sharma (Man of the match): I think this innings will be right up there. It was at a situation where the team needed it the most. I was very determined to bat as long as possible. The bowlers did a fantastic job as they did in the pool matches. Batting at the top of the order is always important to get big hundreds. I wanted to make the most out the opportunity given to me. I am happy with the way we are playing. Bowlers are taking wickets, batsmen are scoring runs, we need to carry this momentum into the semis. Momentum plays a huge role. We have two more games to go now. We need to do what we have been doing. We have been doing the right things. We have been creating partnerships, bowlers are bowling well in tandem.

India have won this game with some confidence today. They have bowled out Bangladesh for 193 and have booked a place in the semi finals. 7th game on the trot that India have bowled out the opposition. Yadav got four wickets today and was the pick of the bowlers. Shami and Jadeja got two each. Bangladesh lost wickets at regular intervals and the lack of partnerships have cost them. India’s fielding, except for couple of lapses, has been right on top. Bangladesh will go home with their heads

India won the toss and opted to bat in Thursday’s World Cup quarter-final against Bangladesh at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The world champions retained the same starting 11 that beat Zimbabwe by six wickets in their last pool game in Auckland on Friday.

Bangladesh made one change to the team that lost to New Zealand by three wickets in Hamilton on Friday, with captain Mashrafe Mortaza returning at the expense of Taijul Islam.

Teams:

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza, Anamul Haque, Arafat Sunny, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (c), Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Taijul Islam, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed

India: MS Dhoni (c), R Ashwin, STR Binny, S Dhawan, RA Jadeja, V Kohli, B Kumar, Mohammed Shami, AR Patel, AM Rahane, SK Raina, AT Rayudu, MM Sharma, RG Sharma, UT Yadav

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and IJ Gould (England)

TV umpire: SJ Davis

Match referee: RS Mahanama (Sri Lanka)

Reserve umpire: PR Reiffel