Kiwis Take Flight

Faced with the prospect of an elimination, an inspired India reversed their sliding fortunes with anemphatic 145-run victory over New Zealand and romped into the final of the TVS Cup triangular cricket serieshere today.

After the Indian mauling through scintillating centuries by Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar whichpropelled the hosts to a huge 353 for five, New Zealand could never really recover from the early jolts tofold up for 208 in 47 overs with Scott Styris providing a semblance of resistance with a determined 54.

The hosts, under enormous pressure to deliver in the do-or-die floodlit encounter, outplayed the Kiwis inall departments of the game in what turned out to be a rather lop-sided contest.

The Indians, who finished their league engagements with 16 points from six outings, will now lock hornswith world champions Australia in the final at the majestic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Australia had already qualified for the final with 23 points from their six matches while New Zealand,handicapped by the injury-induced absence of captain Stephen Fleming, bowed out of the tri-series managingjust ten points.

Electing to bat, the Indians relied on a career-best 130 by Sehwag and Tendulkar's 91-ball 102 to pile up amammoth 353 for five in their allotted 50 overs to leave the Kiwis in a daze.

After Tendulkar and Sehwag's batting heroics, Rahul Dravid also produced a quickfire unbeaten 50 off just 22balls to pile on the misery on the visitors who seemed totally out of sorts in the crucial encounter at theLal Bahadur Shastri stadium.

The New Zealand run chase began on a disastrous note losing opener Chris Nevin (1) with the score on eightwith speedster Ajit Agarkar doing the damage much to the delight of a vociferous home crowd.

Nevin was bowled by a gem of a delivery by Agarkar who reduced the Kiwis to 25 for two by the ninth over byevicting Chris Harris to give the Indians the upper hand.

Harris was trapped leg before wicket with a vicious incoming ball to leave the visitors in a precariousposition as the two Indian new ball operators Zaheer Khan and Agarkar worked up a fiery opening spell.

The right handed Lou Vincent, who was striking the ball well, also returned to the pavilion soon for 22throwing the Kiwis run chase in disarray.

Scott Styris and Craig Mcmillan, the two in-form batsmen, tried to salvage the situation for the Black Capsas the duo put on 62 runs for the fourth wicket, raising hopes of a spirited fightback.

McMillan played some audacious shots to keep pace with the stiff asking rate but his aggression wasshortlived as he fell prey to leg spinner Anil Kumble, who was introduced into the attack in the 14th over.

McMillan attempted a sweep but mistimed the shot completely and Rahul Dravid ran a few yards to the left tolatch on to a simple catch.

Styris, who was the most aggressive Kiwi batsman, joined McMillan in the dressing room eight runs laterwith Murali Kartik plotting his downfall.

The right handed batsman went for a lofted shot but failed to get hold of the ball properly and Agarkartook a well-judged catch at the long-off region. Styris struck nine boundaries during his 49-ball 54.

Gasping at a precarious 118 for five at the half way stage, it was left to stand-in captain Chris Cairns tonot only steady the ship but also put the innings back on track.

The departure of Jacob Oram, who was quite capable of accelerating the pace of scoring, was a huge setbackfor the Black Caps who kept lagging in the run rate.

From then on, the Kiwis kept losing wickets at regular intervals to fold up for 208 in 45 overs, giving thehosts their first victory against them in the tri-series.

Earlier, the formidable Indian batting line-up fired on all cylinders when it mattered most to tear theKiwis bowling attack to shreds.

Tendulkar and Sehwag provided the platform for the merciless assault by stitching a rollicking 182-runopening partnership much to the delight of a packed home crowd.

Tendulkar set the packed Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium ablaze to notch up his 36th one-day internationalcentury before Sehwag took centrestage to record his highest one-day score of 130 in the do-or-die match.

After Tendulkar and Sehwag had battered the hapless Kiwis, Rahul Dravid launched a savage assault to scorea quickfire unbeaten 50 off just 22 balls to steer India beyond the 350 mark.

Fired on by the determination to make it to the final, India toyed with the bowling attack which lacked thesting to pose much problems for the hosts.

Tendulkar, who appeared a trifle subdued in the early stages of his innings and took 33 balls to hit hisfirst boundary, changed gears to unleash a barrage of boundaries.

Captain Sourav Ganguly also chipped in with a 31-ball 33 in the batting display which will give the team alot confidence going into the summit showdown against the mighty Australians.

Sehwag, who has not been in the best of forms in recent times, set the tempo by flicking paceman DarylTuffey to the sqaure leg boundary in the third ball of the innings and then slammed three consecutiveboundaries off the same bowler in the ninth over to give a flying start to the run-collection.

New Zealand's stand-in skipper Chris Cairns admitted that the two opener took the game away from them andthey had no chance to come back after India had imposed such a huge total.

"The two Indian openers took the game away from us. They set the game very well and we had no chanceto come back," Cairns said.

The all-rounder said the team was a bit worried about the performance in the opening department and alsoits 'death' bowling and said these points were needed to be sorted out before the next leg of the tour. "We will now sit down and figure out our problems and try to improve on them before our next leg of thetour," Cairns said.

The New Zealand team will now head to Pakistan for a five match one-day series.

.The team did a great job by not losing to India in the Test series and also lost only one limited oversmatch, he said, but quickly lamented the fact that "the only match they lost was the one which countedthe most."

Man-of-the-match Virendra Sehwag, who scored a scintillating 130, said he had struggled against theAustralians at Bangalore and had decided to occupy the crease as long as possible.

"I am coming after a back problem and had very little practice. But now I am finding my touch,"he added.

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly gave full credit to the batsmen for applying themselves very well and expressed hope that the team would repeat theperformance in the final. "It was a crucial toss to win and after that we batted very well to score over 350," Ganguly said 

"We applied ourselves very well. It just looks like we apply well when under pressure. It is essential that wecontinue to apply ourselves everyday," he said. 

Commenting on India's chances in the final against world champion Australia on November 18, the Indian skipper said theteam has performed well at the Eden Gardens in the past and expressed hope to do the same again. "It's going to be a fantasticexperience to play in front of 100,000 people. We have done well at Eden Gardens in the past and hope to do well again."

Ganguly, however, was not so forthcoming in praising his new ball bowlers, saying the real test will be when the totalto defend was not so big. "Yes they bowled well. But when there are 350 runs on the board you are relaxed. We will have to wait and see howthey perform when there are 270 on the board," he said.