DHAKA // Leg-spinner Amit Mishra continued his awesome form as India roared into the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 with an eight-wicket demolition of hosts Bangladesh in Dhaka on Friday.
Mishra, who was man of the match in the wins against Pakistan and the West Indies, finished with three for 26 as Bangladesh were restricted to 138 for seven.
India surpassed the target with nine deliveries to spare for a third successive win and a semi-final berth, with a match against Australia on Sunday still to play.
Rohit Sharma made 56 and Virat Kohli was unbeaten on 57, the pair sharing a 100-run stand for the second wicket after Shikhar Dhawan was out for one in the third over.
Rohit was caught at point off Mashrafe Mortaza in the 16th over with 26 needed to win, but the captain MS Dhoni sealed victory with a six off Ziaur Rahman.
India will make their first semi-final appearance in the tournament since winning the inaugural title in South Africa in 2007, but Dhoni ruled out any celebrations. “No celebrations at all because the next few games are going to be extremely tough,” Dhoni said.
“I had not batted for a while, so I asked Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) if I could go in ahead of him.
“It’s been easy for us so far, but there is nothing we can do about the lack of challenge.”
Mushfiqur Rahim, the Bangladesh captain, said nothing was going right for his team.
“The batsmen that get set, end up throwing away their wickets, so big partnerships are just not happening,” he said. “There are two more games to go for us and hopefully we can do better in them.”
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