Kohli, Rahane star as India crush Bangladesh by 6 wickets.

Virat Kohli scored a yet another fantastic century, his 19th in ODIs, as India crush hosts Bangladesh by 6 wickets in a flat pitch. While Virat Kohli’s century was the highlight of the Indian chase, Rahane played the perfect second fiddle, scoring a well paced 73.
Earlier, stand-in captain Virat Kohli won the toss, and as expected, choose to bowl first. The bowlers started off well for India, with Shami bagging the wicket of Shamsur Rahman in the 6th over of the innings. Ashwin, who was brought in the 13th over of the match, stuck the very first ball as he removed Mominul Haque, who looked settled. Just when it looked like the Indian bowlers have done their homework and looked to restrict Bangladesh to a reasonable total, captain Mushfiqur Rahim and wicket-keeper Anamul Haque got together to build an excellent partnership.
Both of them respected good deliveries, and punished the bad ones. Both were severe on Varun Aaron specifically, as he was taken for 74 runs in his 8 overs, before being sent off. But Shami ensured that Bangladesh doesn’t run off to score a huge total, by bagging wickets in regular intervals in the final overs of the match. Rahim was the last wicket to fall for Bangladesh, but it was not before he scored an amazing 117. Bangladesh ended their innings with 279 on board, a reasonable score to defend. Shami was the pick of the bowlers for India, as he ended up with figures of 4-50
Indian chase did not start in the greatest of manners. Both the openers were cautious in negotiating the new balls. The openers stitched together a 50 run partnership, which is India’s second 50 run opening partnership in the last 10 games. But Bangladesh came right back into the game as Ziaru and Razzak removed them in consecutive overs. While Shikhar couldn’t read Razzak from the start and eventually fell, Rohit Sharma was knocked over by Ziaur.
But when Virat Kohli and Rahane came to the crease, it was all one way traffic there-after. Kohli looked aggressive right from the start, whereas Rahane was playing the perfect second fiddle. Together they stitched a 213 run 3rd wicket stand, and ensured that Bangladesh never got a chance in the game. While Kohli departed for a brilliant 136, Rahane was caught in mid on for an excellent 73. But the late wickets were worthless for Bangladesh, as the match was already lost, and Rayudu and Karthik finished it off without much fuzz.
The next Asian cup tie will be between the neighbors Pakistan and quickly emerging Afghanistan.