Bangladesh head coach Steve Rhodes said he was proud of the way his team had fought against top sides at the World Cup even though they had ultimately fallen short.

Mashrafe Mortaza's side lost to India by 28 runs at Edgbaston on Tuesday to end their hopes of a place in semi-finals.

Bangladesh impressed during wins over South Africa and the West Indies and put in a spirited effort against defending champions Australia.

The Tigers fought back to limit India to 314 for nine in Birmingham on Tuesday after Rohit Sharma's 104 but they could only manage 286 all out despite 66 from star batsman Shakib Al Hasan.

"You know, it could well have been 370, 380, even 400 at one stage," said Rhodes. "So, we were delighted that we showed a lot of spirit and a lot of fight to come back.

"It was pleasing to see some fight. I think it's a reflection of the team. We've only picked up the three victories.

"I'm very proud of the way we've played against a lot of the big teams, and I think that maybe we'll be the people's team for the amount of fight that we've shown."

Bangladesh take on Pakistan in their final league game on Friday and Rhodes said it would be a competitive match.

Pakistan will reach the semi-finals if hosts England lose to New Zealand and Sarfaraz Ahmed's side get past Bangladesh.

"I'm really looking forward to that game. I think we beat them in the Asia Cup, and they'll want to change that (Bangladesh won by 37 runs in 2018)," said Rhodes.

"We showed in some of the games we played this year that we're going to be a difficult side for Pakistan to beat.

"We know we'll have to play well again because they've run into a little bit of form in the back end of the tournament. But we're confident."

Feature image courtesy: AFP Photo/ Glyn Kirk

India opener Rohit Sharma hit his fourth century of the World Cup as Virat Kohli's side booked their place in the semi-finals with a 28-run win over Bangladesh at Edgbaston on Tuesday.

Sharma's attacking 104 laid the foundation of India's 314 for nine after Kohli elected to bat first in India's penultimate match of the league phase.

Yet for the second match in a row Sharma �?as happened during India's 31-run defeat by England at Edgbaston on Sunday �?was dropped in single figures before making a hundred.

India's bowlers then combined to dismiss Bangladesh for 286 with two overs to spare after star batsman Shakib Al Hasan top-scored with a valiant 66.

Jasprit Bumrah took four wickets and fellow paceman Hardik Pandya three, including the prize scalp of Shakib.

Defeat ended Bangladesh's slim hopes of a place in the last four after they had impressed during wins over South Africa and the West Indies.

READ | Rohit Sharma and his constructive records of 2019

The day belonged to the in-form Sharma, who played an attacking knock, hitting seven fours and five sixes in his 92-ball innings while being cheered on by another largely pro-India crowd in Birmingham.

Sharma and opening partner KL Rahul put on 180 �?the highest stand for the first wicket in the tournament �?to get India off to a flying start.

But Sharma should have been out for nine only for Tamim Iqbal to drop a simple catch at deep midwicket following a mistimed pull off paceman Mustafizur Rahman.

Sharma was finally was caught at extra cover by Liton Das off the bowling of Soumya Sarkar and Rahul, who filled an opener's slot following an injury to Shikhar Dhawan, was caught behind off Rubel Hossain for 77.

Mustafizur took five wickets, including star batsman Kohli for 26, to check India's surge.

The paceman struck twice in the space of three balls to dismiss both Kohli and Pandya.

Rishabh Pant once again showed his worth at the number four position with a brisk 48, using the short boundary at one side of Edgbaston to his advantage.

MS Dhoni, who received flak for his slow innings in India's defeat by England on Sunday �?their only loss so far this tournament �?chipped in with a 33-ball 35.

READ | This elderly fan stole everyone’s heart at the India-Bangladesh game

Paceman Mohammed Shami struck early in Bangladesh's reply when Tamim, who made 22, chopped the ball onto his stumps.

Shakib struck his sixth fifty-plus score that includes two hundreds to keep Bangladesh in hunt.

But Pandya's second spell saw the all-rounder account for Liton and Shakib to leave Bangladesh struggling at 179-6 in the 34th over.

Shakib, who has been Bangladesh's go-to man, played well for his 46th ODI fifty but was undone by a slower ball and caught at extra cover.

Mohammad Saifuddin made an unbeaten 51 only to run out of partners as Bumrah ended the match with two wickets in successive deliveries.

Bangladesh face Pakistan in their last group match at Lord's on Friday. India meet Sri Lanka on the final day of the round-robin phase on Saturday.

Feature image courtesy: AFP Photo/ Paul Ellis

Indian opener Rohit Sharma seems untouchable at the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. The 32-year-old, who has been scoring runs for fun of late, was at his usual best once against during his side’s penultimate league stage game against their Asian rivals, Bangladesh in Edgbaston.

Playing a vital knock of 104 off just 92 deliveries, on the back of which India posted a respectable 314 on the board, Sharma registered his fourth ton of the tournament and became the first Indian to reach the milestone. The right-handed batsman, who was dropped on nine by Tamim Iqbal, is now only the second batsman overall �?after Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara �?to achieve the feat. The Sri Lankan great achieved his milestone in 2015 when he went on to hit four consecutive hundreds.

In the midst of his innings though, he also crossed the 500-run mark in the tournament, and this made him only the second Indian to do so after Sachin Tendulkar, who achieved the record in 1996 (523) and 2003 (673). And having amazed 544 runs thus far, he tops the chart of the highest run-getters of the tournament.

Read | Rohit Sharma and the tale of dropped catches

Up next in his ‘hit-list�?was his former captain, MS Dhoni. En route to scoring 104, Sharma hit seven boundaries and five sixes, and with that being done, he has surpassed Dhoni’s record of 228 sixes in 348 ODIs. The 32-year-old now has 230 maximums to his name, and he has achieved his feat in a mere 213 ODIs. The only players ahead of him in the list are Shahid Afridi (351), Chris Gayle (326) and Sanath Jayasuriya (270).

Meanwhile, his century also took his total to above 1000 runs in a calendar year for the third time in a row. Having scored 1293 runs in 2018, the 32-year-old now has 1030 runs in 2019. The only other Indians �?to have scored 1000 plus runs in a calendar year are Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni.

On a global scale, he is only the third player to reach the landmark after Aaron Finch (Australia - 1138) and Usman Khawaja (Australia - 1067).

Sharma started his World Cup bout against South Africa by scoring an unbeaten 122, which was followed by 57 against Australia. A mammoth 140 against India’s arch-rivals Pakistan followed suit before he tore apart the English bowling order by scoring 102. And an impressive 104 against Bangladesh is just another feather to his already golden cap.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Lindsey Parnaby

Rohit Sharma hit his fourth century of the World Cup as India posted a challenging 314 for nine against Bangladesh at Edgbaston on Tuesday.

The opener survived an early scare to make 104 and take control against the Bangladesh bowlers after India elected to bat first with their eye on securing a semi-final spot.

Sharma and opening partner KL Rahul put on 180 runs �?the highest stand for the first wicket in the tournament �?to get India off to a flying start.

But Bangladesh paceman Mustafizur Rahman claimed five wickets, including the prized scalp of skipper Virat Kohli for 26, to check India's surge and keep them in the game.

Mustafizur returned figures of 5-59 in his 10 overs.

Sharma, who was dropped on nine by Tamim Iqbal at deep midwicket, reached his second successive ton with a single off Shakib Al Hasan, celebrating by flipping his bat in the air.

But he was caught at extra cover by Liton Das off the bowling of Soumya Sarkar as Bangladesh struck back.

Rahul, who assumed an opener's slot following an injury to Shikhar Dhawan, was caught behind off Rubel Hossain for 77.

Kohli tried to rebuild with singles and occasional boundaries with the left-handed Rishabh Pant at the other end.

But skipper Mashrafe Mortaza brought back Mustafizur into the attack and the move paid rich dividends.

Mustafizur struck twice in the space of three balls to remove Kohli and Hardik Pandya.

Pant once again showed his worth in the number four position with a brisk 48, using the short boundary on one side of the ground to his advantage.

MS Dhoni, who received flak for his slow innings in India's first World Cup defeat to hosts England on Sunday, chipped in with a 33-ball 35.

But India managed just 35 runs in the last five overs and lost four wickets including three in Mustafizur's final over.

Earlier, Sharma, who scored 102 in the previous game at the same venue, started with a six in the first over but mistimed a pull off Mustafizur only for Tamim to drop a simple catch.

Sharma played an attacking knock, hitting seven fours and five sixes in his 92-ball stay at the wicket, cheered by a largely pro-India crowd in Birmingham.

A win for India would ensure a semi-final spot in the 10-team event.

Bangladesh need to win both of their final fixtures, against India and Pakistan, and for results elsewhere to go in their favour.

Feature image courtesy: AFP Photo/ Dibyangshu Sarkar

Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza says Bangladesh will have to raise their game against a strong India side on Tuesday if they are retain any chance of reaching the World Cup semi-finals.

Mashrafe's side have seven points after three wins and a washout, three points behind fourth-placed England.

To retain any chance of qualifying from the 10-team group phase they need to win both of their final fixtures, against India and Pakistan, and hope results elsewhere go in their favour.

"India are very strong in this World Cup and it is not going to be easy but we have to play hard and be at 100 percent in every area," he said.

"Are we going to still be in it? Maybe, maybe not. Let's see but we have to play better than what we have done so far."

Shakib Al Hasan, the world's top-rated all-rounder in one-day internationals, has scored 476 runs and picked up 10 wickets in the tournament.

"Shakib has been doing whatever he can do," said Mashrafe. "He has been doing everything in batting, bowling and fielding. He has been the best performer at this World Cup.

"There is much left and hopefully he can do whatever he has done and finish on a good level."

England handed India their first defeat of the tournament at Edgbaston on Sunday, blunting their spin attack to rack up 337-7, with the home batsmen making the most of a short boundary on one side.

But Mashrafe, whose side will take on India on the same ground in Birmingham, said they had their own plans against the two-time champions.

"The Indian spinners are doing a lot better if you look at their stats in the last two, three years. Both (Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav) are doing very well," said Mashrafe.

"We can't think just because England did it we will and get success. Our batting has been very good and we will stick to the plan.

"Maybe against New Zealand we could have done better but the way we are playing we should stick to our plan. England stuck to their plan, we stuck to ours."

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Paul Ellis

In a repeat of last year’s Asia Cup final, the Bangla Tigers will face off against the Men in Blue on a batting friendly wicket at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Tuesday. Virat Kohli’s team would be keen to get back to winning ways after faltering to their first defeat of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup against England, knowing well that winning the next game would end Bangladesh’s semi-final hopes.

The defeat on Sunday highlighted a few latent weaknesses of this Indian side - an ineffective spin unit and a faulty middle-order. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav failed to get going in the previous game, and India would be aiming to rectify those flaws by probably dropping the latter for Dinesh Karthik or newest inductee Mayank Agarwal, who was flown in to replace an injured Vijay Shankar. India have struggled to finish their innings with a flurry and adding a bit of attacking minded players in Karthik or Agarwal could help change that trend.

On the bowling front, Mohammed Shami has been brilliant since he started less than a fortnight ago, picking up 13 wickets in three World Cup games and emerging as his nation’s leading wicket-taker thus far. He has formed a brilliant partnership with India’s most economical bowler Jasprit Bumrah, bowling well in the powerplay stages. The spin department though could be needing a slight reshuffle after being taken to the cleaners by the English batsmen on Sunday. Ravindra Jadeja could be given a look-in instead of either Yuzvendra Chahal or Kuldeep Yadav, in a bid to curb the opposition team’s scoring rate.

For Bangladesh, it would be sticking to the basics in this must-win clash on Tuesday. Their batting has been formidable thus far, with all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan finding a purple patch with both bat and ball. He has got three fifties and two centuries in this World Cup, with a lowest score of 41. Shakib has been well complemented by the likes of Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim, who have each scored match-winning fifties. The Bangla Tigers though would be hoping for more from their openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar in this crunch game against the No.1 ranked ODI team.

The Bangla bowlers though have proved to be a tad on the expensive side, conceding in excess of 300 runs four times thus far. The pace battery of Mashrafe Mortaza and Mohammad Saifuddin have been largely ineffective and would be eyeing significant improvements if they are to win against India. The positive on the bowling front though is that the left-arm duo of Shakib and Mustafizur Rahman have been clinical, and another good showing could see Bangladesh upset the odds and beat India for only the second time in a World Cup game.

Feature image courtesy: Cricket World Cup/ Twitter

Ahead of their all-important clash against India on July 2, Bangladesh have been dealt with a major blow, as all-rounder Mahmudullah has suffered a grade 1 tear in his right calf muscle.

The 33-year-old sustained the injury while batting against Afghanistan on Monday in Southampton. Although he impressed with his 38-ball 27, he was seen in visible pain while running between the wickets.

The injury was picked while the 33-year-old was batting on one run. The green signal, for the rest of the innings, was given when team physio Thihan Chandramohan applied the compression tape around his calf. He was taken to the hospital soon after the innings, and as a result of which, Sabbir Rehman took the field as a replacement. The scans, on the other hand, revealed he had sustained a grade one tear.

"Mahmudullah has sustained a low grade calf injury. We will monitor his progress over the next few days with regards to his availability for the next World Cup match,'' said Chandramohan on Tuesday.

As for the injury, it takes somewhere around seven to ten days to heal the grade 1 tear. And while he may not miss so many games, the India fixture remains under cloud.

Mahmudullah has had a poor injury track, to say the least. Even at the World Cup, he arrived on the back a grade-3 tear on his shoulder, and this is why he hasn’t bowl in the tournament.

Bangladesh take on India on July 2 at Edgbaston before locking horns with Pakistan at Lord’s on July 5.

Feature image courtesy: Twitter / Cricket World Cup