DHAKA, June 12: Openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag gave their team a flying start as India crushed hosts Bangladesh by seven wickets to ease into the tri-nation limited-overs series final, at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on Thursday.

Man-of-the-match Gautam Gambhir (107 not out) and Virender Sehwag (59) put on a whirlwind 85 in ten overs helping India reach the moderate target of 223 off 35.1 overs for the loss of just three wickets. Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh, batting at number three and four respectively, made 26 apiece.

Earlier, India restricted Bangladesh to 222 despite a fighting half-century from Raqibul Hasan.

Raqibul, a 20-year-old middle-order batsman (89), steadied the innings with a 76-run stand for the third wicket with skipper Mohammad Ashraful (36), but the pair struggled to score freely against a disciplined Indian attack.

India, who beat Pakistan in their previous match, rattled Bangladesh by grabbing two wickets for 17 runs in the opening six overs. Seamers Praveen Kumar and Rudra Pratap Singh were the successful bowlers.

Ashraful and Raqibul then kept the Indian attack at bay for nearly 20 overs before off-spinner Yusuf Pathan held a low return catch to account for the Bangladeshi skipper.

Raqibul continued to defy the Indian attack, relying on singles and twos to keep the scoreboard moving. He eventually fell in the 44th over, caught by Kumar at mid-on off Rudra Pratap.

He hit just five fours in his 117-ball 89, his best in nine One-day Internationals.

Rudra Pratap took three wickets and Irfan Pathan two.

India now play the final against their arch-rivals Pakistan on Saturday.

Scoreboard

BANGLADESH:

Tamim Iqbal c Dhoni b Kumar 0

Shahriar Nafees b Rudra Pratap 9

Mohammad Ashraful c and b Yusuf 36

Raqibul Hasan c Kumar b Rudra Pratap 89

Mushfiqur Rahim c Raina b Chawla 6

Alok Kapali b Irfan 20

Mahmudullah c Sehwag b Rudra Pratap 24

Farhad Reza run out 5

Mashrafe Mortaza run out 13

Abdur Razzak not out 8

Dolar Mahmud c Kumar b Irfan 0

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-10) 12

TOTAL(all out, 49.5 overs) 222

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-17, 3-93, 4-106, 5-152, 6-187, 7-196, 8-209, 9-222.

BOWLING: Kumar 10-2-32-1 (2w); Rudra Pratap 10-1-46-3 (5w); Irfan 8.5-0-48-2 (3w); Chawla 10-0-42-1; Yuvraj 2-0-10-0; Yusuf 2-0-9-1; Sehwag 7-0-33-0.

INDIA:

G. Gambhir not out 107

V. Sehwag c Iqbal b Mahmud 59

R. Sharma c Mortaza b Razzak 26

Yuvraj Singh b Reza 26

S. Raina not out 0

EXTRAS (W-5) 5

TOTAL (for three wkts, 35.1 overs) 223

FALL OF WKTS: 1-85, 2-141, 3-216.

BOWLING: Mortaza 8-0-33-0; Reza 5.1-0-45-1 (2w); Mahmud 4-0-42-1 (2w); Razzak 10-0-48-1 (1w); Mahmudullah 7-0-42-0; Kapali 1-0-13-0.

RESULT: India won by seven wickets.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Gautam Gambhir (India).

UMPIRES: Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka) and Nadir Shah (Bangladesh).

TV UMPIRE: A.F.M. Akhtaruddin (Bangladesh).

MATCH REFEREE: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).

NEXT MATCH (final): India v Pakistan, on Saturday.—Agencies