India beat http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 Triangular Series
India completed a remarkable one-sided win over New Zealand in the final league game of the Sri Lanka Triangular Series to make to the final of the tournament. It has been a tournament that has seen all three teams give contrasting performances. Neither team had won two matches on the trot; pressure was on both teams to come up with the goods in the all-important game.
The day started well for India, as Captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820 won the toss and elected to bat first. The conditions in the tournament have been consistent in a way that batting becomes immensely difficult in the later part of the day. The sunlight early on does make things easier for the batsmen.
The start for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virat-Kohli-c95424 came in at number 3. Kohli could not adjust himself against the moving ball and struggled to get one in the middle. He was eventually the 2nd victim behind the stumps as he tried to drive one on the up. Tim Southee claimed his wicket in the 6th over after Kohli scored just 8 runs from 16 balls with 1 four.
Next man in, the currently in form batsman Yuvraj Singh, was also not finding the conditions ideal. The left-hander, who had shown good form in the last game against Sri Lanka, could not time the ball. He was also found susceptible outside the off-stump and the Black Caps continued to feed him there, and he finally edged one to the keeper. Andy McKay got his wicket in the 12th over after he had scored only 6 runs off 19 balls. Meanwhile, Sehwag looked as if he was playing on an altogether different pitch. ‘Veeru’ continued to find the middle of the bat and kept scoring runs, while wickets kept tumbling from the other side. Suresh Raina came in at number 5 and went for just one run (on the last ball of the 13th over). He was caught by Kane Williamson off the bowling of Southee.
Captain Dhoni finally gave some support to Sehwag and the pair put on a good partnership; batting, however, was still not easy in the middle. Sehwag was eventually dismissed in the 33rd over after scoring a brilliant 110 runs from 93 balls with 16 boundaries and 1 six. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 nudged it around and made 38 from 75 balls. He was wicketkeeper Hopkins’ 4th victim off the bowling of Nathan McCullum (he was also McCullum’s second victim after Sehwag). India was all out for 223 runs in the 47th over.
Although the target was not a huge one, considering the seaming conditions, it was enough for India to defend. Indian seamers were l*****g their lips looking at the overcast conditions and right from the first over created loads of problems for the Kiwis. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Taylor-c92915 all went before getting into double figures.
The two bowlers that came after the change, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ishant-Sharma-c64566 and Munaf Patel, continued to swing the ball and cleaned up the lower middle order in no time. Munaf Patel and Praveen Kumar both got 3 wickets each.
New Zealand were staring at their lowest ODI total at 53 for 8. However, Kyle Mills notched up a whirlwind 52 from 35 balls to take them to 118. The team was all out in the 31st over, handing India a resounding 105 run win. Virender Sehwag was declared man of the match for his superb 110 run knock.
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