India won by 7 wickets

Gambhir hundred sets up India-Pakistan final

Dhaka: Riding high after a massive win over arch-rivals Pakistan in their first game, India comfortably brushed aside Bangladesh by seven wickets on Thursday to sail into the final of the Kitply Cup tri-series here.

With a do-or-die match to play, Bangladesh, laid low by a huge loss to Pakistan, were looking for inspiration from their day of celebration in the 2007 World Cup, where India were humbled and later knocked out in the first round. But inspiration is one thing, repeating the act, another.

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Bangladesh were thumped by Pakistan in the opening fixture of the series on Sunday, while India overwhelmed their arch-rivals by a huge 14-run margin, which left the hosts with a near-impossible ask of winning Thursday's game by at least a 218-run margin.

For Bangladesh to make the final despite a huge defeat to Pakistan, the hosts had a clear-cut job in front of them: to beat India by a handsome margin.

Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful had no hesitation in deciding to bat after calling the coin right on a batting beauty, but the hosts managed 222 all out, before Gautam Gambhir's fluent century and Virender Sehwag's blazing half-century put paid to the home side's hopes.

Sehwag came out firing on all cylinders as the right-hander brought up his fifty off just 29 balls before falling to Dollar Mahmud after sharing an opening wicket stand of 85. Gambhir, however, carried on his spectacular form to crack a superb century, his fifth in One-day Internationals, to set up a clinical run chase.

Gambhir remained not out on 107, collected off 101 balls, while Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh were the other men out, both for 26, as India reached their target with 14.5 overs to spare. Pakistan made the final by virtue of their win over Bangladesh.

The Bangladeshi innings followed a similar script that played out against Pakistan, as the early departure of openers Tamim Iqbal and Shahriar Nafees saw the hosts crawl in the early stages of the innings, before Raqibul Hasan's gritty 89, coupled with handy contributions from the lower order took them to a competitive total.