COLOMBO
Looking down and out after their first three games, India stormed into thefinal of the Coca-Cola Cup at a sun bathed Sinhalese Sports Club today aftertheir best batting performance of the tournament to date.
Required to chase the highest target of the triangular so far, an imposing265, after a sloppy performance in the field, India powered to a seven wicketvictory over New Zealand, as Virender Sehwag, opening the innings in the absenceof Sachin Tendulkar, thumped the seventh fastest century in the history ofone-day cricket and the second fastest by an Indian.
Already famed for an uncanny likeness to Tendulkar, in both bowling andbatting style, Sehwag emerged from the shadow of India's star batsmen, with someexhilarating strokeplay in the opening 15 overs.
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The Delhi batsmen made full use of the fielding restrictions, hitting DarrylTuffey for 22 runs in his sixth over and 12 boundaries in all in his firstfifty, which came from just 28 balls.
His second fifty was slower, as he focused his attention on a maiden one-daycentury, but he was still no slouch, reaching the landmark off just 69 balls.Only Shahid Alfridi (37), Brian Lara (45), Sanath Jayasuriya (48), MohammadAzharuddin (62), Basit Ali (67) and Ijaz Ahmed (68) have reached three figuresoff lesser deliveries and not many of them would have been missed only once,like Sehwag was by Parore when he had made 98.
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This was not, however, just a one man show. When Shewag was bowled byMcMillan's first ball, straight after his celebrations, Sourav Ganguly held theinnings together with Rahul Dravid, who came to the wicket after the dismissalof VVS Laxman.
Ganguly, lucky to be playing at all after his verbal tirade last evening, forwhich he was let off by match referee Cammie Smith with just a fine and a slapon the wrists, added 33 with Rahul Dravid and scored 64 from 103 balls beforepaddling a tame catch to short fine leg.
With 86 runs required from 17.2 overs, India looked well in control havinglost just three wickets, but those who have watched the team in the past wouldnot have been totally convinced, especially with the out of touch Hemang Badaniand normally slow scoring Dravid at the wicket.
Such fears were quickly soothed, as it became clear that Dravid was in apositive frame of mind and in fine form. He took the bowling by the scruff ofthe neck and shepherded his side home with an unbeaten 57 from 56 balls. Badanimeanwhile chipped in with a fluent 36 from 38 balls that included two sixes.
Earlier, New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first on a wicket, whichwas being re-used. Aware that the new ball in the morning represented theirgreatest threat, they batted cautiously at the start, scoring just 55 runs inthe opening 15 overs, which compares unfavourably to the 101 scored by India.
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Steadily and professionally, however, Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle raisedthe tempo, as they added 138 for the second wicket, before the captain wasstumped for 66 as he jumped down the track to Yuvraj Singh.
Astle went on to score 108, his second century of the series, and was wellsupported by Lou Vincent, who came back into the side today. Vincent scored 45from 37 deliveries; his highest ever score in ODIs.
India now take on Sri Lanka at the Premadasa International Stadium on Sunday.Full of confidence after three successive victories, they probably even start asfavourites.
