Rohit Sharma roared back to form with a quickfire half-century, while Washington Sundar picked up three wickets as India outclassed Bangladesh by 17 runs to advance to the final of T20 tri-series, in Colombo, on Wednesday.
Rohit smashed a quickfire 89 from 61 balls, hitting five sixes and as many fours to power India to 176 in their 20 overs after they were put into bat.
In reply, Bangladesh finished on 159 for six despite a brilliant innings of 72 not out from 55 balls by Mushfiqur Rahim.
Washington Sundar blew away the Bangladesh top order with three early wickets, to finish with impressive figures of three for 22 in his four overs.
After a steady start, Rohit provided the boost in the middle orders in the company of Suresh Raina, who smashed 47 from 30 balls, as the duo put on 102 runs for the second wicket from 56 deliveries.
With their third win from four matches, India qualified for Sunday's final.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh will take on Sri Lanka to decide which team will take on India in the title clash.
Bangladesh's inconsistency once again proved to be their bane as they found a target of 177 too hot to handle, having chased 215 in their previous encounter against Sri Lanka.
Bangldesh were jolted early as opener Liton Das danced down the track but was beaten by Sundar as wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik completed an easy stumping.
Soumya Sarkar (1) tried a slog over deep mid-wicket but missed and was bowled by Sundar, who also accounted for the wicket of Tamim Iqbal (27).
Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals as skipper Mahmudullah (11) pulled a short ball from Yuzvendra Chahal straight into the hands of KL Rahul at deep midwicket.
The 26 dot balls bowled by the spinner (13 each by Washington and Chahal) proved to be decisive in the end.
Even though Rahim kept Bangladesh's hopes alive with regular boundaries, the match as a contest was virtually over when Shardul (1/37 in 4 overs) managed to castle Sabbir Rahaman (27) after 65-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
After being hit for 19 runs in his first over, pacer Shardul made a good comeback in his last three overs executing knuckle ball with considerable success.80314.htm
Earlier, captain Rohit slammed a blazing half-century to power India to 176 for three against Bangladesh in the final league encounter of the Nidahas T20 Tri-Series here tonight.
After a prolonged bad patch starting from the tour of South Africa, the stand-in captain was in his element, starting cautiously before finishing with a flourish as he hit five fours and an equal number of sixes to hammer 89 from 61 balls.
With another senior pro Suresh Raina (47 off 30 balls) for company, Rohit added 102 runs for the second wicket in only 9.2 overs.
The turning point was the 18th over bowled by left-arm military medium bowler Abu Hider Rony (0/43 in 4 overs), which fetched India 21 runs. The young pacer was hit for three sixes --- two by Rohit and one by Raina, which suddenly propped up India's score that was looking below par at one stage.
While Rohit upped the ante in the end, Raina once again played a significant role, hitting five boundaries and two sixes.
Raina missed out on a half-century as another attempted flick over deep mid-wicket off Rubel was taken by Soumya Sarkar.
India had their best start of the tournament with Shikhar Dhawan (35 off 27 balls) and Rohit adding 70 in 9.5 overs.
Dhawan hit Mustafizur for a six over long-on before the left-hander was bowled by a yorker from Rubel Hossain.
