T20 World Cup results: India beat Bangladesh to edge closer to semi-finals

India’s trophy hunt is gathering pace and the all-round team effort against Bangladesh will have boosted their hopes further.

Kohli and Rohit provided a quickfire start, Pant maintained the acceleration and then Dube and Hardik finished the job with a brutal display to close the innings.

There were 13 sixes hit in total, with plenty of intent shown throughout the innings, with Suryakumar Yadav’s six the only batting failure but the world’s best T20 batter certainly has plenty of credit in the bank.

With the ball, they were clinical despite Bangladesh barely playing a shot in anger.

Ravindra Jadeja bowled three valuable overs having been scarcely used in the preceding games, Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah provided their standard unwavering consistency at the top while it beggars belief that Kuldeep struggles to find a place in their usual starting XI.

He bowled with remarkable control and utilised his canny variations and Bangladesh’s batters had no answers. Opener Tanzid Hasan and Tawhid Hridoy were lbw for 29 and four respectively, before Shakib Al Hasan was caught at mid-off.

While things are shaping up nicely for Rohit Sharma’s men, their tournament is taking the same trajectory as the recent 50-over World Cup where they cruised through the group stage unbeaten only to lose to Australia in the final.

They are yet to really be challenged, with a six-run win over Pakistan being their closest encounter so far. But that will come on Monday, with a mouth-watering test against Australia which may not have much bearing on the semi-final outcome, but will provide much-needed competition for both heavyweights.