Sharma, Kohli fire India into Champions Trophy final
Duo helped India make their fourth Champions Trophy final.
ESPNcricinfo staff
16-Jun-2017
Rohit Sharma scored his 11th ODI ton, making him the joint seventh along with Gautam Gambhir in the list for most centuries by Indians • Getty Images
A sublime 178-run stand for the second wicket between Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli helped India complete a nine-wicket rout of Bangladesh to book their berth alongside arch-rivals Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final slated to take place at the Oval on June 18.
Bangladesh, batting first, through a 123-run stand between Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim built a sizeable 264-run total. India's required 5.28 from the onset to offset Bangladesh' effort to make their first final in an ICC tournament. Inform openers, Shikhar Dhawan and Sharma, laid a 87-run platform that set the tone for the chase. Dhawan's departure in the 15th over brought Kohli and Sharma together.
Sharma countered as Bangladesh struck and clubbed two-consecutive fours an over later. Kohli took his time to find his feet, but once he did, there was no stopping him. He began by targeting Bangladesh's best bowler, Mustafizur Rahman, slamming him for two fours in the 22nd over. He and Sharma struck three fours an over later of Rubel Hossain. Bangladesh needed to stub the run-flow and make inroads in a bid to limit the damage, they failed to do either, as India methodically completed the chase with 59 balls to spare. Sharma brought up his first hundred of the tournament and moved to No. 2 on the run-scoring charts, while Kohli remained unbeaten on 96, becoming the fastest to 8000 ODI runs.