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Dhoni hails India's team spirit

Melbourne - India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hailed his team's renewed team spirit after they stormed into the Cricket World Cup semi-finals on Thursday.

The defending champions eased past Bangladesh by 109 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and will face either Pakistan or Australia for a place in the March 29 final.

India posted 302 for six batting first, with Rohit Sharma making 137 and Suresh Raina 65.

In reply, Bangladesh - in their first World Cup quarter-final - were dismissed for 193 in 45 overs with Nasir Hossain the top-scorer on 35, while Umesh Yadav took four for 31.

"It has been a good World Cup for us and we can't shy away from the fact that we are playing some good cricket," said Dhoni, whose team have now won all seven games at the World Cup after failing to win at all in the preceding Test series against Australia and tri-nations one-day tournament.

"A month back we were struggling in this format so credit to the boys and the support staff. Everyone has had to lift themselves up," he added.

"Not many players from our side are among the top run-scorers, but we're still scoring runs as a team."

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza admitted that defeat had been hard especially after they had been in a strong position, reducing India to 115 for three in 28 overs.

"A score of 300 is always difficult to chase, 280 would have been much better," he said.

"Most of the players had only played two or three ODIs (one-day internationals) before the World Cup and are just starting their careers.

"Back home they should be happy and hopefully we can carry on from here. We don't have enough experience to play in these sort of matches, but we now know how we have to play."

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