India became the second side to seal a spot in the ICC WorldCup 2019 semifinal with a 28-run win over Bangladesh at Edgbaston on Tuesday(June 2). Shakib al Hasan, as usual, was among the runs - scoring 64 - but lackof support from the other batsmen meant Bangladesh managed 286 to fall short inthe chase. India's total of 314 was built by Rohit Sharma's 104 - his fourthton in this World Cup. Rohit's ton also matched the record set by KumarSangakkara as the former Sri Lanka captain scored four centuries in the 2015 -the most in a single edition.

Bangladesh were hampered to quite an extent as the pitchslowed down considerably and then were let down by the batsmen, who failed torally around Shakib. The allrounder became the first player to score more than500 runs and take more than 10 wickets in a single World Cup edition. It was ashame really that none of the top six were able to top Soumya Sarkar's 33.Hardik Pandya continued to take the pace off and accounted for the wickets ofSarkar and Liton Das before bagging the crucial wicket of Shakib in the 34thover. By then, Bangladesh were struggling at 179 for 6 and the game had alreadyslipped away.

In a tricky chase, Bangladesh got off to a cautious startwith the openers scoring 39 for the first wicket. Tamim Iqbal chopped one back,Sarkar clobbered a wide one to cover and Mushfiqur Rahim swept a tossed updelivery from Yuzvendra Chahal to square leg. Bangladesh's inability to stringtogether a productive partnership cost them the game in the day - with thehighest being the Shakib-Rahim association that fetched the side 47. MohammadSaifuddin and Sabbir Rahman played some enterprising strokes, with the formerregistering a half-century, but only kept delaying the inevitable.

Earlier in the day, things could have been a lot differenthad Tamim managed to hold on Rohit's pull at the square leg fence when theopener was on 9. Once the coin fell in India's favour, and they decided to bat,the pressure was already on the bowlers and the drop didn't help. If you wantto see how fluent Rohit was on the day, find yourself the clip of the firstthree balls of the sixth over. Mohammad Saifuddin beat the outside edge on thefirst delivery, got a good one up next and forced Rohit to defend. Having playedtwo dots, Saifuddin got another decent delivery - pitching outside off and onlength - only to see Rohit dance down and smoke it over cover.

Rohit's fluency allowed KL Rahul to get in but the latterfailed to shrug off his struggles during his 92-ball stay. India ended thefirst ten with 69 - their highest score in the powerplay this tournament - withall wickets intact. Rahul completed his half-century off 57 balls, butcontinued to struggle for timing. The moment of the innings came on the last ballof the 29th over as Rohit crunched a single to complete his 26th ODI ton off 90deliveries. The hopes of a double ton, however, were extinguished by Sarkar asan off-cutter was mistimed to cover. Rahul fell for 77 off 92 to Rubel Hossainsoon after, but Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant got the momentum going with a42-run stand.

Bangladesh made a brief comeback via a double-wicket maidenfrom Mustafizur. Kohli's pull found square-leg and then Pandya edged his secondball to first slip. India still had more than 11 overs to go but had lost twoaccelerators. Pant looked a lot at ease and kept the score moving with timelyhits during his knock of 48 before his sweep carried easily to fine-leg. Therewas no major flourish from MS Dhoni - once again - as India's finishing issueswere exposed once again. Mustafizur completed his five-wicket haul with twowickets in the last over but the pressure of chasing a 300-plus total eventuallygot the better of Bangladesh.

Brief scores: India314/9 in 50 overs (Rohit Sharma 104;Mustafizur Rahman 5-59) beat Bangladesh 286 in 48 overs (Shakib al Hasan 66;Hardik Pandya 4-55) by 28 runs.