ICC World Twenty20, highlights: India enter semis after beating Bangladesh by 8 wickets

India reached the semi-final of the World Twenty20 for the first time since 2007 as they beat Bangladesh by eight wickets. (Scorecard | Commentary | Points Table)

22.19 (IST): MS Dhoni: No celebrations. We were slightly unlucky in Sri Lanka, we lost only one game and didn't qualify for the next round. But we have good players and the next few games are going to be extremely tough. I hadn't batted in a while and asked Yuvi if he was ok. Now everyone in the top five have had a bat. We don't have a bowler who we can bank upon - like Malinga or Narine - so we have to play the bowlers according to who is doing well at that time. We can't ask Virat Kohli to hit wicket and come back (to make games interesting). We can't do much about that (lack of challenge)."

22.20 (IST): Mushfiqur Rahim: Whoever gets set, ends up throwing their wicket.. so definitely not happening at the moment. After you lose a couple of wickets, you need to preserve the wickets, but also score runs because they had some good spinners. We thought about 150 plus as a good total, but unfortunately ended up below that. Two more games to go, so hopefully we can take some positives out of them

22.10 (IST): Man of the Match, Ravichandran Ashwin: I love challenges. Looking forward to all kinds of challenges. Important games coming up. We have played some excellent cricket like in Champions Trophy 2013

22.05 (IST): India become the first team to enter semis of the World Twenty20 after a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Bangladesh.

21.59 (IST): Dhoni is swinging his willow here! He whacks a six off Al-Amin to take India to 129/2 in 17 overs. India now need 10 runs to win from 18 balls.

21.52 (IST): Mahendra Singh Dhoni walks out to bat.

21.51 (IST): Soft dismissal! Rohit Sharma hits a full toss from Mortaza straight to Nasir Hossain at covers. He departs for 56. India 113/2 in 15.2 overs.

21.45 (IST): Fifty for Virat Kohli! He gets his sixth in T20Is in 41 deliveries. India 110/1 in 14.3 overs.

21.40 (IST): Fifty for Rohit Sharma! He gets his seventh in T20Is in 39 deliveries. India 104/1 in 14 overs.

21.28 (IST): Virat Kohli's glorious touch with the bat continues. He slams two boundaries-- one on either side of the wicket-- of Sohag Gazi with ease. India 77/1 in 10 overs, need 62 to win from 60 balls.

21.20 (IST): Oh dear! Collision on the field gives Rohit Sharma a life! He hit one high in the air and Sohag Gazi and Anamul Haque collided without calling for the ball. India 60/1 in 8.4 overs.

21.12 (IST): Rohit Sharma is in fine nick today. He hits two fours off Shakib to take India to 39/1 in 6 overs.

21.07 (IST): SIX for Virat Kohli! Al-Amin offers a poor over-pitched delivery and Kohli launches it straight back for maximum. India 26/1 in 4.4 overs.

21.02 (IST): OUT! Bangladesh have their first wicket! Shikhar Dhawan (5) has been clean bowled by Al-Amin Hossain. India 13/1 in 2.5 overs.

20.50 (IST): Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan walk out to begin India's run-chase vs Bangladesh.

20.30 (IST): It's a familiar script for India as they continue to rely on spinners. Amit Mishra finished with figures of 3/26 while Ravichandran Ashwin bagged two to end with 2/15. With a low total to chase, India will hope to get it easily and make it to the semis.

20.29 (IST): Bangladesh post 138/7 in 20 overs vs India. Haque 44, Mahmudullah 33*; Mishra 3/26, Ashwin 2/15.

20.25 (IST): Mishra strikes twice in the final over! First Nasir Hossain dances down the track but the spinning ball beats his bat and Dhoni completes a simple stumping behind the stumps. Next, Ziaur Rahman is caught by Jadeja off the first ball. B'desh 131/7 in 19.2 overs.

20.12 (IST): Mahmudullah is taking the Indian bowlers on. He hit Amit Mishra for a four behind point and followed it up with a couple of fours off Shami. B'desh 124/5 in 18 overs.

 

20.05 (IST): Bangladesh reach 90/5 in 15 overs with Mahmudullah (5) and Nasir (4) in the middle.

 

20.00 (IST): What a ripper from Amit Mishra! A lovely googly that Anamul Haque failed to read and tried to cut. In the end, he ended up playing it onto his stumps. He goes for 44, B'desh 82/5 in 13 overs.

19.52 (IST): OUT! Shami comes back well to remove Mushfiqur Rahim. His brief stay at the wicket comes to an end as he is caught by Kohli at mid-wicket. Bangladesh 67/4 in 11 overs.

19.50 (IST): INSIDE OUT SIX! Anamul Haque makes room and smacks a Shami delivery for a six over extra cover. Bangladesh 62/3 in 10.3 overs.

19.48 (IST): At the halfway stage, Bangladesh 56/1 in 10 overs with Mushfiqur Rahim (20) and Anamul Haque (28) in the middle.

19.46 (IST): Just when Mushfiqur Rahim is looking to free his arms, MS Dhoni turns to his wicket-taking bowler Amit Mishra.

19.42 (IST): Mushfiqur Rahim is looking to get a move on here. He hits Raina for a four and follows up with back-to-back fours off Jadeja to bring up the 50 for Bangladesh. (Bangladesh 51/3 in 9 overs)

19.35 (IST): End of powerplay! Bangladesh reach with Mushfiqur Rahim (2) and Anamul Haque (17) in the middle.

19.30 (IST): Bhuvneshwar strikes now! BIG Wicket! Shakib is gone, bowled! (Bangladesh 21/3 in 4.1 overs).

19.26 (IST): Ashwin on a hattrick! Shamshur Rahman has hit the first ball straight down Rohit Sharma's throat at deep square leg. Bangladesh 20/2 in 3.3 overs.

19.24 (IST): Ravichandran Ashwin strikes! Tamim Iqbal is gone, caught by Suresh Raina at first slip. Bangladesh 20/1 in 3.2 overs.

19.17 (IST): Oh dear! Run Out chance missed! A miscommunication and a 'Yes-No' situation between the batsmen and Tamim was stranded mid-pitch. Dhawan, who collected the ball and mid-on, attempted a direct throw and missed from point-blank range.

19.13 (IST): In-form man Anamul Haque gets off the mark with a glorious cut through the off-side and finishes the first over with another behind square. (Bangladesh 13/0 in 1 over)

19.10 (IST): Bhuvneshwar Kumar starts the proceedings for India. He bowls to Tamim Iqbal. Iqbal comes down the track and throws his bat at a ball and gets a four over the slip cordon and Dhoni straight away comes up to the stumps. (Bangladesh 4/0 in 0.2 overs).

 

19.02 (IST): What is a T20 tournament without Chris Gayle on song. He returned to form today to score a fifty and Darren Sammy slammed two sixes in the final over to seal a win over George Bailey's Australia. Here's how the first game panned out.

19.00 (IST): A wicketkeeper-captain and heavy reliance on spin, there are a few similarities between the two sides today. Also, one is just a win away from a semis spot and the other is playing in front of a fantastic crowd.

18.45 (IST): India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravichandran Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami

18.40 (IST): Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque, Shamsur Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nasir Hossain, Mahmudullah, Ziaur Rahman, Sohag Gazi, Mashrafe Mortaza, Al-Amin Hossain

 

18.30 (IST): Indian skipper MS Dhoni wins toss, elects to field vs Bangladesh. The unchanged Indian team are just a win away from making it to the semis. Bangladesh make two changes.

 

On paper, it will be a 'David versus Goliath' contest as Bangladesh are no match for an Indian team which is now being considered as serious contenders for the title. India beat arch-rivals Pakistan in their opener and followed it up with a clinical win against defending champions West Indies.

 

Bangladesh though have not given local fans much to talk about. After a humiliating loss against Hong Kong in the qualifiers, the team surrendered without a fight to West Indies. "We should play competitive cricket. We want to improve and come up with good fight against big teams. But for that we need a good start with bat and ball," Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim had said after the West Indies match. Always dangerous when pushed to the mat, the team continues to be known a dangerous and unpredictable foe.

 

It will be interesting to see though if controversial news from back home will have any bearings on the Indian players - especially skipper MS Dhoni. (Also read: BCCI defends MS Dhoni, says he did not mislead IPL spot-fixing investigations)

 

On Friday, BCCI chief N. Srinivasan was replaced by Sunil Gavaskar as the interim president for the duration of the Indian Premier League on the orders of the Supreme Court. There was a threat on Chennai Super Kings - captained by Dhoni - and Rajasthan Royals' participation but it was lifted.