Cricket-India inch closer to semis after nervy win v Bangladesh

MELBOURNE -Inaugural champions India put a foot in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup following their nervy five-run victory against Bangladesh in a rain-hit Group 2 humdinger in Adelaide on Wednesday.

Virat Kohli made an unbeaten 64 to maintain his red-hot form and KL Rahul (50) ended his run drought as they fired India to a commanding 184-6 at the Adelaide Oval.

Chasing a revised target of 151 in 16 overs following a rain interruption, Bangladesh looked on course with Litton Das (60) going great guns but his exit unhinged his side who eventually finished on 145-6.

India moved to top of Group 2 with six points, one ahead of South Africa who have played one game fewer.

"Shortened games can go either way... but we held our nerves pretty well when the game started after the break," India captain Rohit Sharma said.

"Some of the catches we took today under pressure, it was great to watch."

Put into bat, India did not have the best of starts with Taskin Ahmed proving quite a handful even though the seamer went wicketless.

Hasan Mahmud (3-47) dropped Rohit in the deep but almost immediately made amends dismissing the batter for two.

Kohli, who was adjudged player-of-the-match, did not look convincing initially but was soon in his elements, while Rahul also looked in great touch at the other end.

With scores of 4,9,9 in his previous three matches, Rahul was under pressure to justify his selection and the opener responded by clubbing four sixes en route to a 31-ball fifty as India reached 86-2 at the halfway stage.

Suryakumar Yadav played a typically breezy 30 off 16 balls on a day he replaced Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan as the top-ranked T20 batter.

Kohli accelerated in the penultimate over, registering his third fifty in four innings