With two matches down in the quarter-finals of the Cricket World Cup, the fans must be wondering whether they are going to get a contest in the last-eight stages, after India joined South Africa yesterday in crushing their opponents today with ease. The unlucky side on this occasion were Bangladesh, as the Indians defeated them comfortably by 109 runs, with much of the credit being owed to their opener Rohit Sharma's wonderful century innings for the sizeable winning margin at the end.
After winning the toss at the MCG in Melbourne, the reigning ODI world champions batted first and started well as the openers put on 75 for the first wicket.
Shikhar Dhiwan's dismissal for 30 led to a mini-crisis for the Indians though, as Virat Kohli soon followed him back to the pavilion. It was soon 115-3 when Ajinkya Rahane mishit his attempted stroke off the bowling of Taskin Ahmed and was caught as a result. A brilliant stand of 122 for the fourth wicket calmed the champions' nerves and set them on the way to a challenging total, as Rohit and Suresh Raina (65) flourished. With wickets in hand, India were able to up their scoring rate at the end of their innings, as they plundered almost ten runs an over off the last 15 overs. Rohit was finally out for a marvellous 126-ball 137, as Ravindra Jadeja's cameo innings of 23 not out at the end saw them to 302-6 at the close.
The Bangladeshis were unhappy with the officials after they thought that Rohit had been dismissed on 90, but it was decided that the ball had been bowled above waist high and therefore deemed a no-ball, despite the catch being taken. Replays suggested that it should have been allowed to stand as a legitimate delivery.
The Bangladeshi bowlers toiled away after their early breakthroughs, with Taskin Ahmed taking 3-69 from his ten overs.
In reply, Bangladesh lost two wickets with the score on 33 and thereafter could not really establish a foothold in the match, with wickets falling at regular intervals as they slumped to 139-6. A 50-run partnership for the seventh wicket gave their fans a glimmer of hope, but once that was ended the conclusion of their innings was not far behind it.
Their last wicket fell with the score on 193 with 5 overs still remaining to be bowled in their innings, well short of the total that they had been set to chase. Several players got a start to their innings but could not take it on to a bigger score.
Umesh Yadav proved to be the major wicket-taker for the Indians, with a handy spell of 4-31. Mohammad Shami also took two wickets with the ball, moving him into top spot on 17 wickets for this World Cup so far.
Either Australia or their arch-rivals Pakistan will be the next opponents in the semi-finals for India, with the match due to be played in Sydney next Thursday. After their disastrous recent tour against the Aussies, where they failed to take even a single victory, India may prefer to face their old foes Pakistan, although their form has improved so much in recent weeks, that they may be happy just to take whatever comes their way.