India hammer Kiwis by seven-wickets
to enter tri-series final
By Manoj Vatsyayana
Colombo, August 2: Virender Sehwag smashed the sixth-fastest
century in one-dayers to power India into the triangular cricket
series final with a seven-wicket victory over New Zealand here
on Thursday. The make-shift Indian opener struck 19 fours and
one six in his maiden 69-ball hundred as India surpassed a stiff
New Zealand total of 264 for seven with 26 balls to spare.
India will meet Sri Lanka in the final on Sunday. Sehwag, 22,
upstaged New Zealand opener Nathan Astle, who scored an impressive
108 for his second century against India in this tournament and
11th overall. He then made his opening partner and skipper Sourav
Ganguly look like a virtual spectator during a 143-run stand with
his hard and clean hitting. Ganguly (64) came into the picture
only after Sehwag's dismissal, bowled off an inside-edge in Craig
McMillan's first over.
The Indian skipper, Rahul Dravid (57 not out off 55 balls) and
Hemang Badani (35 not out off 38 balls) capitalised on the advantage
given by Sehwag, a middle-order batsman playing as an opener in
the absence of an injured Sachin Tendulkar. His assault on the
New Zealand bowling began in the sixth over when he hammered fast
bowler Kyle Mills for four boundaries.
There was no stopping him after that as he reduced the New Zealand
bowlers and fielders to a state of helplessness with his consistent
big-hitting. Man-of-the-match Sehwag struck seven consecutive
boundaries — one off the last ball of fast bowler Darryl
Tuffey's fifth over, two in Dion Nash's opening over and four
in Tuffey's sixth over. Then came a rare dot ball, which was followed
by a straight six off Tuffey who conceded 22 in that over.
Sehwag raced to his half-century off just 29 balls with 12 fours
and then took 40 more deliveries to reach the three-figure mark.
He fell immediately after completing his century, but not before
putting his team in a strong position with his explosive batting.
New Zealand also were indebted to their opener for posting a challenging
total as Astle dominated the Indian bowling with a wide range
of strokes. He shared a 138-run stand for the second wicket with
skipper Stephen Fleming (66) in a match to decide the finalists.
Astle struck nine boundaries in his 143-ball knock and Fleming
seven in his 26th half-century to set the stage for the closing-overs
onslaught.
Lou Vincent then made merry and hit two sixes and three fours
in his 37-ball 45 as New Zealand, who won the toss and elected
to bat, plundered 82 runs in their last 10 overs. A seven-man
Indian attack was under severe pressure during the Astle-Fleming
stand.
The Indian fielding also left a lot to be desired as Astle, Fleming
and then Vincent often converted ones into twos. Off-spinner Harbhajan
Singh, India's main weapon in their previous matches, had a rare
off-day and hardly troubled the New Zealand batsmen. Left-arm
fast bowler Ashish Nehra was the most impressive of the Indian
bowlers, finishing with three for 30 off his nine overs.
Astle and Fleming exposed India's bowling limitations on an easy-paced
pitch with their disciplined batting after the early dismissal
of opener Matthew Sinclair. Sehwag then gave New Zealand a dose
of their own medicine with a strokeful century. (AFP)
SCORECARD
