India lived up to its reputation of playing well against Bangladesh in ICC tournaments in the recent past. As was the case in some of the previous encounters, there were instances in the game when Bangladesh were on the steering wheel. In the end, they just veered off the right path. India ended up dominating Bangladesh in all three departments of the game. They pulled back the game with the ball and restricted Bangladesh to a decent total and went on to cruise to the target. With this victory, India have made it to their second consecutive Champions Trophy final and set up a clash against arch-rivals, Pakistan. The match was absolutely bossed by the men in blue and Bangladesh were left searching and wanting once they were thrown off their tracks in the first innings.

The coin went Virat Kohli’s way and he chose to bowl under overcast conditions. The toss took place when the ground was subjected to a slight drizzle and Kohli felt that the wicket was quite fresh and could aid his quicks. Bhuvneshwar Kumar took the team off to the perfect start with the ball, as he knocked Soumya Sarkar over on the final ball of the first over. Jasprit Bumrah took the new ball once again. He conceded a boundary off his first over. Sabbir Rahman started off on fifth gear, taking on both Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah in their first few overs.

Pressure of keeping the momentum was getting to Tamim Iqbal and Sabbir Rahman, as Kumar and Bumrah tightened their lines and lengths. Bumrah bowled a solid maiden over to Tamim and in the following over by Kumar, Rahman lost his cool after playing out four dot balls. He looked to go hard at a short, slower one and ended up cutting the ball straight to Jadeja at point. Bangladesh were two down too early. Rahim and Tamim got together and they eased into the partnership soon.

Rahim took a liking to Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s bowling as he edged him for a boundary In the ninth over and continuing going after him, picking up a hat-trick of boundaries in that very over. The pair began to milk the Indian bowlers and Tamim Iqbal took his time to settle in. He took on the spinners as he approached his half-century. Once he crossed the landmark, he unleashed himself on Ravichandran Ashwin, tonking him for three back-to-back boundaries – a cut to point, a lofted drive to cover and a soft tickle down the leg side to fine leg. Boundaries dried down for Rahim, but he got to his fifty in due time too.

The going was getting tough for the Indian bowlers as Iqbal and Rahim looked good for bigger scores. Kohli was forced to look for secondary options to use as a bowler. Earlier in the tournament, he had got himself into the attack, but in this game he handed the ball to Kedar Jadhav. Jadhav started off with some accurate deliveries, and along with Jadeja, he built some pressure by bowling a few dot balls. Tamim tried to dictate terms to Jadhav and looked to go across the line with a slog sweep. The result – he got bowled and India got the opening they were desperately searching for.

All was not over for Bangladesh, at least theoretically, with their most experienced man, Shakib Al Hasan coming out to bat. Shakib got his first boundary as he cut Jadeja past point. However, his stay at the crease was short-lived as an attempt to cut Jadeja once again fell flat on the ground. Shakib edged Jadeja’s shortish delivery and he became the leading wicket-taker for India in the Champions Trophy, going past Zaheer Khan’s tally of 15 wickets. A bigger blow for Bangladesh came in the next over! Jadhav’s dibbly-dobblies got Rahim dancing down the track to flick a ball. He couldn’t keep it down and Kohli took a good catch at mid-wicket. The landslide for Bangladesh began and India made the most of the open floodgates.

Mahmudullah and Mosaddek Hossain threatened to string a partnership, but weren’t given any freebies by most of the Indian bowlers. A very strange sight was seen when MS Dhoni tried to effect a run-out. In his usual style, Dhoni took off one of his gloves and threw them on the grass. He collected the ball and tried to flick it back on to the stumps. When he did so, the ball landed on the glove that was lying on the ground and the umpire rewarded five penalty runs to Bangladesh. After the 40th over, Kohli handed the ball to Bumrah and Kumar, who are perhaps two of the best death bowlers in this tournament.

Bumrah broke through and picked up his first wicket as a short one proved to be too fast for Mosaddek Hossain. The ball hit the splice of his bat and lobbed up for Bumrah who took an easy return catch. In his next over, the 45th of the innings, Bumrah smashed the stumps with a fabulous yorker that got rid of Mahmudullah. Yorkers and sharp bouncers were a sight of commonality in the final few overs by the two Indian quicks. A few streaky boundaries took Bangladesh past 250 and they ended up with 264 in their 50 overs. At one stage of the game, it looked like they would finish well and cross 300 with ease. The Indian bowlers turned things around by sticking to their plan and executing their variations brilliantly.

The Indian openers carried the confidence they gained while fielding, into their batting. Shikhar Dhawan’s golden run in the tournament continued as he struck his Sunrisers Hyderabad teammate, Mustafizur Rahman for two consecutive boundaries in his very first over. Rohit Sharma didn’t spare him either. In the fourth over of the chase, Sharma caressed a fullish delivery with a stylish square drive. Another square drive followed on the fourth ball of the over. He then ended the best of the lot. He drove a full delivery with a pristine straight drive. He didn’t stop there! In the next over, Rohit pulled out an extraordinary flick which was a mere push. Mortaza saw the ball timed to perfection as it went away to the mid-wicket fence.

Boundaries came in thick and fast, as both the openers punished the Bangladeshi bowlers at will. Shikhar Dhawan teed off against Taskin Ahmed taking him for 14 runs, hitting two fours and a six. The southpaw went on to become the highest run-getter for India in Champions Trophy. He went past Sourav Ganguly’s tally of 665. The Australian unlucky number, 87 got to India as Dhawan miscued a chip to mid-off. However, Rohit had no reason to stop in his tracks, as he carved two boundaries off Shakib’s first two balls of his second over and got to his third half-century of the tournament. A battle we looked forward to bloomed in Rohit’s favour when he struck back-to-back boundaries off Rubel Hossain in the 19th over.

Kohli began his innings with a few singles and hit his first four off Mustafizur in the 20th over. He punished the bowler further in the 22nd with a boundary on either side of the wicket. The duo continued the cruise as they inflicted more misery on Rubel Hossain, clattering him for 17 runs in the 23rd over. Kohli soon picked up pace and began finding the gaps with regularity. The run-rate was so healthy that at one point all Kohli and Sharma had to do was to find singles. Boundaries were far from being necessary for India.

Rohit got into the 90s in the 29th over and didn’t waste much time to get to three figures. In the meanwhile, Kohli got to his third fifty-plus score of the tournament too. Rohit moved from 90 to 94 with a gorgeous pull shot off Mahmudullah. He showed no fear as he latched on to a short one from Mustafizur and hooked him for a maximum to get to his 11th ODI century, his second against Bangladesh. Rohit and Virat didn’t hold back thereafter. The former increased his strike-rate drastically once he got into the 80s, then into the 90s and beyond his century.

Kohli got his strong wrist-work to the fore with some powerful strokes through mid-wicket and cover. The Indian skipper got to 8000 ODI runs when he reached 88 in his innings. He is the fstest to get to the milestone, having done so in 175 innings and going past his Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate, AB de Villiers feat in 182 innings. Kohli hit the winning runs and ended up unbeaten on 96. The chase seemed like a mere formality in the end, as Kohli and Sharma cantered to the finish line in 40.1 overs. India won with 59 balls to spare, nearly 10 overs – a period in which teams score over 100 runs at the death.

India have made it to their second successive final in the Champions Trophy, and the title defence is on track. This victory sets up something that Indian fans haven’t seen since the 2007 World T20 final – an India vs Pakistan game, that too in an ICC tournament. 10 years have passed and the teams have changed since. Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni are the only members from the Indian side who played that game. Pakistan have been in fine form since they lost to India in their opening game. India have clicked in all three departments and it will be a mouth-watering clash. A two-day break is what India get before Sunday, the day of the grand finale.