Hamilton: They rightly say records are meant to be broken. When Mohammad Azharuddin slammed a ton off just 62 deliveries, it was there to stay, but not forever. Sehwag, the Delhi dasher, tore apart the New Zealand bowling to become India’s fastest centurion of all times. He scored his third ton against New Zealand off just 60 odd balls.
India were declared the winners by 84 runs (D/L method) and they now have an unassailable lead of 3-0, which means they have won a series in New Zeakand for the first time in 33 years.
Virender Sehwag was declared the man of the match without a doubt for his breath taking innings that set the Seddon Park on fire.
When New Zealand had finished their innings at 270/5 off 47 overs, the spectators were sure they had a thrilling encounter in store. However, when the swashbuckling Viru unleashed his array of lethal shots, maneuvering his willow with ease, Hamilton looked like a park in a residential colony and the Kiwis had to run for cover.
Choosing to bat first for a change, New Zealand had started off cautiously saving wickets and later Ryder and McCullum let themselves loose to take the Black Caps to a flying start. Some sloppy effort in the field by the Indians ensured Ryder scored 46 and McCullum went on to score a flamboyant 77. Dhoni had missed a stumping chance early on in the innings and later Sehwag dropped a sitter to give McCullum two lives. However, the bowler to suffer remained the same – Yuvraj, who later dismissed Jesse Ryder who looked set for a consecutive century.
McCullum survived scare after scare to carve out 77 runs without much support from Ross Taylor (5), Jacob Oram (1) and Martin Guptill (25). Zaheer finally broke the McCullum jinx and caught the dashing right hander plumb in front of the wickets. Just when the Kiwis seemed to have lost their way, Peter McGlashan (56 off 42) and Grant Eliott (35 off 27) joined hands to bail the hosts out of trouble with a 95 run sixth wicket partnership posting a total of 270 in 47 overs. The overs were reduced due to the rain interruptions.
Amidst rain interruptions and revised targets, Sehwag did not stop. He went on and on firing all cylinders to all corners of the park. Rain interrupted Sehwag’s fireworks and the target was revised 263 in 43 overs after the second time rain played spoilsport and then to 220 in 36 overs after the rain Gods obliged again.
Riding on Sehwag’s blitzkrieg, India had scored 201 for no loss before the drizzle began again in the 24th over thereby making it definite for a result to be declared in case the game could not continue further. And that exactly happened. India were declared winners after 23.3 overs were bowled with India’s scorecard reading a fabulous 201/0.
Amidst Sehwag’s slam-bang, Gambhir’s contribution could not be ignored. The left hander scored 63 runs off 67 deliveries and played an anchor role to provide perfect support and cushion to the Hamilton Hurricane Sehwag whose final score read 125 off 74 deliveries which was studded with six thunderous hits into the stands and 14 shots that rolled into the fence.
The fifth and final ODI of the series will be played at Eden Park, Auckland on March 14.
Source: www.nhatky.in
