Rohit returns to form to guide India into final

India’s stand-in captain Rohit Sharma returned to form with a fine 89 to set up a 17-run victory over Bangladesh on Wednesday and reach the final of their Twenty20 tri-series.

Leading the side in the absence of rested regular skipper Virat Kohli, opening batsman Rohit hit five fours and an equal number of sixes in his 61-ball knock to guide India to 176-3 in their 20 overs.

Bangladesh, who also lost their first match of the tournament to India, managed 159-6 in reply. The winner of Friday’s match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will meet India in the final on Sunday.

Off-spinner Washington Sundar ran through the Bangladesh top order with the new ball, taking three wickets in his first spell of three overs. The 18-year-old finished with 3-22, his best figures in the format.

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was also economical in his four-over spell of 1-21.

Former captain Mushfiqur Rahim notched up his second consecutive fifty but his 72 not out in 55 balls was not enough.

Rohit’s highest score in his previous six T20 matches, including the three-match series in South Africa, was 21 and he opted to be watchful at the start of his innings after India were asked to bat.

He added 70 with Shikhar Dhawan for the opening wicket before the latter was bowled by paceman Rubel Hossain for 35.

Rohit then had another fruitful partnership of 102 with Suresh Raina, who fell to Rubel in the final over of the innings after a 30-ball 47.

The 30-year-old Rohit, who has two hundreds in the shortest format of the game, was run out on the final ball of the innings. -Reuters

 India  1st innings

 Rohit Sharma    Run Out Rubel Hossain               89

 Shikhar Dhawan  b Rubel Hossain                     35

 Suresh Raina    c Soumya Sarkar b Rubel Hossain     47

 Dinesh Karthik  Not Out                              2

 Extras          0b 1lb 0nb 0pen 2w                   3

 Total           (20.0 overs)                     176-3

Fall of Wickets : 1-70 Dhawan, 2-172 Raina, 3-176 Sharma

Did Not Bat : Rahul, Pandey, Sundar, Shankar, Siraj, Thakur, Chahal

 Bowling            Ov  Md  Rn  Wk   Econ  Ex

 Abu Hider           4   0  43   0  10.75  1w

 Nazmul Islam        4   0  27   0   6.75

 Rubel Hossain       4   0  27   2   6.75

 Mustafizur Rahman   4   0  38   0   9.50

 Mehedi Hasan        3   0  31   0  10.33  1w

 Mahmudullah         1   0   9   0   9.00

 Bangladesh 

 Tamim Iqbal      b Washington Sundar                       27

 Liton Das        st Dinesh Karthik b Washington Sundar      7

 Soumya Sarkar    b Washington Sundar                        1

 Mushfiqur Rahim  Not Out                                   72

 Mahmudullah      c Lokesh Rahul b Yuzvendra Chahal         11

 Sabbir Rahman    b Shardul Thakur                          27

 Mehedi Hasan     c Suresh Raina b Mohammed Siraj            7

 Extras           0b 1lb 1nb 0pen 5w                         7

 Total            (20.0 overs)                           159-6

Fall of Wickets : 1-12 Das, 2-35 Sarkar, 3-40 Iqbal, 4-61 Mahmudullah, 5-126 Rahman, 6-150 Miraz

Did Not Bat : Rony, Hossain, Rahman, Islam

 Bowling            Ov  Md  Rn  Wk   Econ  Ex

 Mohammed Siraj      4   0  50   1  12.50  2w 1nb

 Washington Sundar   4   0  22   3   5.50  1w

 Shardul Thakur      4   0  37   1   9.25

 Yuzvendra Chahal    4   0  21   1   5.25  2w

 Vijay Shankar       4   0  28   0   7.00