So here I am with my second post. Being a cricket fanatic in a country where cricket is not a game but a religion is quite obvious. Had wanting to write about cricket for some time now, just couldn’t get it done till now. So yeah I’ll be discussing the 2nd semifinal of the Champions Trophy 2017 which saw the head to head contest between two Asian nations India and Bangladesh. Having earned their way into the semis both the teams looked to keep their winning momentum alive to earn a spot in the finals against Pakistan on Sunday. Talking about the conditions, it was a bit overcast with some chances of rain. Owing to the overcast conditions the toss was quite crucial, which was later won by India and they decided to bowl first probably due to the overcast conditions and the chasing trend that had been going on in this tournament. India had a really good start with the ball as they picked up two quick wickets reducing Bangladesh to 30 odd for 2 in 7 odd overs. Bangladesh looked to build their innings slowly and also thanks to some undisciplined bowling from India the Tigers built a good partnership with Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim at the crease. This partnership looked to take the game away from India as Bangladesh were cruising at 151/2 in 27 overs. The run rate was pretty good and the projected score seemed a bit of concern for Kohli and company. The partnership was finally broken by the part-timer Jadhav who cleaned up Tamim with a short flighted delivery. The next batsmen in Shakib could manage to score only 15 runs before falling to Jadeja by a brilliant catch from MS Dhoni behind the stumps. Just after Shakib’s departure Mushfiqur Rahim also got out after scoring a well played 61 and the score was now reduced to 179/5. This was the chance for India to pull things back and they quite grabbed it with both hands reducing Bangladesh to 229/7 at the end of 45 overs. Bangladesh didn’t lose another wicket after that and went on to score 264 in their allotted 50 overs. The target wasn’t a terrifying one but at least the opposition had something to bowl at and who knew might have proven to be a big total in a crunch, high-pressure game like this semifinal. India got off to a flier where Dhawan and Rohit both looked in solid touch. They added 87 in just 14.4 overs before Dhawan falling to opposition captain Mortaza at a well made 46. Next came in Kohli who looked to be in sweet touch right from ball one. By this time bright sunshine had covered the ground and the pitch behaved like a flat deck with absolutely nothing for the bowlers. The Bangladeshi bowlers struggled due to their lack of discipline and the flat nature of this pitch. Runs came thick and fast as both the batsmen dominated the bowlers adding a matchwinning unbeaten partnership of 178 runs which took India across the finish line with 9 wickets intact. This game proved out to be a yet another single sided contest. Great character shown by the men in blue to book their place in the final against Pakistan. So India will be taking on the arch-rivals Pakistan in the final of 2017 Champions Trophy.