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| November 16, 2003 | Sunday | Ramazan 20, 1424 |
Tendulkar, Sehwag power India into final
HYDERABAD, India, Nov 15: Openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar hit centuries to power India into the final with a 145-run victory over New Zealand in their one-day tri-series game on Saturday.
Sehwag smashed a career-best 130 and Tendulkar, the most prolific one-day batsman, 102 off 91 balls for his 36th century as India amassed 353 for five, their third highest one-day total.
New Zealand, weighed down by the absence of injured captain Stephen Fleming and security concerns over next week’s one-day tour of Pakistan, were all out for 208 with three overs left.
The Kiwis were never really in the hunt losing wickets at steady intervals, with only Scott Styris hitting a defiant 54.
India moved ahead of New Zealand on points and into Tuesday’s final against world champions Australia at the Eden Gardens.
Tendulkar led the early assault with 12 fours and a six and raised 182 runs with Sehwag, who then took over to hammer his sixth one-day hundred, studded with 15 fours and two sixes.
Rahul Dravid further demoralised the bowling with a 22-ball unbeaten 50 to virtually settle the issue.
Earlier Sehwag smashed a career-best 130 and Sachin Tendulkar 102 off 91 balls as India amassed 353 for five.
Tendulkar, the most prolific one-day batsman in history, led the early assault with 12 fours and a six in his second tournament hundred and 36th overall after captain Saurav Ganguly chose to bat first in the day-nighter.
Sehwag, relatively quiet during their 182-run opening stand, then took over to hammer his sixth one-day hundred, studded with 15 fours and two sixes.
Rahul Dravid then tore into the demoralised Kiwi bowling by hammering a 22-ball unbeaten 50 to propel India to their third highest one-day total.
With the winners to face world champions Australia in Tuesday’s final at the Eden Gardens, the Kiwi batsmen seemed headed for more trouble on a powder-dry pitch throwing up puffs of dust.
Going into the match without injured captain Stephen Fleming and uncertainty over next week’s one-day tour of Pakistan due to security concerns, the Kiwis looked jaded from the start.
Sehwag hit six fours in a row before Tendulkar took over to smash the next seven and race to a 47-ball fifty.
Sehwag hit seamer Daryl Tuffey for three consecutive fours but was lucky to be dropped on 26, slashing Jacob Oram to deep third man where a diving Lou Vincent only got a touch.
Tendulkar went after Oram, hitting him for a flurry of fours then hoisting Scott Styris over long-on for six before steering Chris Cairns to third man to reach his hundred.
Cairns, standing in for Fleming as skipper, operated at half pace after missing the last two games because of a hamstring injury.
Tendulkar fell four balls after reaching his second hundred of the series, lofting Chris Harris to deep extra cover but there was no respite for the bowlers.
The 24-year-old Sehwag played audacious shots to go past his previous best one-day score of 126 before lofting Styris’s slower ball to long-off.
Ganguly hit a 31-ball 33 batting at number three before Dravid smashed three sixes and five fours in his late cameo.
Scoreboard
INDIA
V.Sehwag c Vincent b Styris 130
S.Tendulkar c Oram b Harris 102
S.Ganguly c Tuffey b Styris 33
Y.Singh c Harris b Mills 7
R.Dravid not out 50
V.Laxman b Tuffey 3
M.Kaif not out 15
EXTRAS: (lb-6 w-6 nb-1) 13
TOTAL: (five wickets, 50 overs) 353
FALL OF WKTS: 1-182 2-256 3-283 4-284 5-303
DID NOT BAT: A.Agarkar, Z.Khan, A.Kumble, M.Kartik
BOWLING: Tuffey 9-1-69-1 (w-4), Mills 10-0-54-1 (nb-1, w-1), Oram 7-0-67-0, Cairns 7-0-47-0 (w-1), Styris 6-0-46-2, Vettori 6-0-35-0, Harris 5-0-29-1
NEW ZEALAND
C.Nevin b Agarkar 1
L.Vincent lbw b Khan 23
C.Harris lbw b Agarkar 1
S.Styris c Agarkar b Kartik 54
C.McMillan c Dravid b Kumble 20
C.Cairns c Khan b Kumble 23
J.Oram st Dravid b Kartik 11
B.McCullum lbw b Khan 31
D.Vettori run out 19
K.Mills not out 7
D.Tuffey lbw b Khan 0
EXTRAS: (b-2 lb-8 w-7 nb-1) 18
TOTAL: (all out, 47 overs) 208
FALL OF WKTS: 1-8 2-25 3-48 4-110 5-118 6-136 7-154 8-187 9-208
BOWLING: Zaheer Khan 8-1-31-3 (w-3), Agarkar 6-0-28-2 (w-4), Tendulkar 8-0-40-0 (nb-1), Kumble 10-1-36-2, Kartik 10-0-38-2, Yuvraj 5-0-25-0
FINAL: Nov 18, Calcutta - India v Australia.—Reuters
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