MELBOURNE, March 19 (PTI): Rohit Sharma blasted a strokeful century as defending champions India stormed into the semi-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup by thrashing a hapless Bangladesh by 109 runs in a lop-sided contest here today.
Riding on Rohit�s spectacular 137 off 126 balls and his rollicking 122-run fourth wicket stand in only 15.5 overs with the belligerent Suresh Raina (65), India were able to post a commendable 302 for six after opting to bat at the MCG. In reply, Bangladesh were never in the contention as India hardly took their foot off the pedal to dismiss their neighbours for a paltry 193 in 45 overs without hardly breaking a sweat. The juggernaut continues to roll on for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men who have now recorded their seventh win on the trot in this mega event.
India will now meet the winner of the third quarter-final between Australia and Pakistan at Sydney on March 26. The victory took the tally of India�s successive World Cup victories to 11, including four in the last edition, as it was yet another easy outing for the title contenders.
Such has been India�s domination that whenever they have batted first in the tournament, they have scored 300 or more and taken all 70 opposition wickets in seven matches so far.
Umesh Yadav (4/31 in 9 overs) was bang on target during his entire spell despite a flurry of boundaries in Tamim Iqbal�s run-a-ball 25 that ended with Dhoni taking a low catch off the bowler.
Imrul Kayes (5) was run-out due to a mix-up. Two in-form players in left-hander Soumya Sarkar (29) and Mahmudullah Riyadh (21) steadied the ship with 40 run stand before Shikhar Dhawan took an acrobatic catch to get rid of the latter on the boundary line.
Once Mahmudullah was gone there was an air of inevitability about the result with Soumya Sarkar being caught by Dhoni diving to his left and Shakib Al Hasan caught at backward point of Jadeja.
Mohammed Shami (2/37 in 8 overs) took his wickets tally to 17 while Ravichandran Ashwin (0/30 in 10 overs) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/42 in 8 overs) again operated well in tandem with big MCG boundaries as cushion.
The day however belonged to Rohit, who hit his seventh ODI hundred with 14 boundaries and three sixes to his credit while Raina with seven fours and a big six off Shakib Al Hasan played an equally attractive as well as game-changing knock off 57 balls.
scorecard
India
Rohit b Taskin 137
Dhawan st Mushfiqur b Shakib 30
Kohli c Mushfiqur b Rubel 3
Rahane c Shakib b Taskin 19
Raina c Mushfiqur b Mortaza 65
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 wkts in 50 overs) 302
Fall of wickets: 1-75, 2-79, 3-115, 4-237, 5-273, 6-296.
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.
BANGLADESH
Tamim Iqbal c Dhoni b Yadav 25
Imrul Kayes run out (Jadeja/Yadav) 5
Soumya c Dhoni b Shami 29
Mahmudullah c Dhawan b Shami 21
Shakib Al Hasan c Shami b Jadeja 10
Mushfiqur Rahim c Dhoni b Yadav 27
Sabbir Rahman c Shami b Yadav 30
Nasir Hossain c Ashwin b Jadeja 35
Mashrafe Mortaza c Dhoni b Mohit 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
Fall of wickets: 1-33, 2-33, 3-73, 4-90, 5-104, 6-139, 7-189, 8-192, 9-193, 10-193
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.