The Same Old Story

India continued their exasperating sequence of flops in the finals as New Zealand rode on Nathan Astle's scintillating century to clinch the Videocon Cup with a comfortable six-wicket victory today.

The right-handed Astle cracked an unbeaten 115 to help his team overhaul the target of 277 and leave the Indians licking the wounds of yet anotherembarrassing defeat in a summit showdown.

The Indians, who have not won a multi-nation tournament for a long time, failed to break the long-standing jinx yet again as they were thoroughly outplayed by the Kiwis at the Harare Sports Club.

A total of 276 does not quite reflect the failure of Indian batsmen who lost the plot in the middle overs and fell short by at least 40 runs which could have tested the New Zealanders in the afternoon.

In the event, New Zealand coasted home in 48.1 overs, built around the 15th one-day century by Astle who shared a 121-run first wicket stand with his skipper Stephen Fleming (61) off only 18-odd overs.

Fleming took five fours in Irfan Pathan's third over and Astle creamed three off Ajit Agarkar at the other end as New Zealand galloped to 50 in a mere five overs.

The brakes were applied when the spinners were pressed into operation from the other end andVirender Sehwag met with two successes in his second over.

Fleming offered a return catch to Sehwag and then the latter won a leg before shout against Hamish Marshall (3).

But Sehwag was then taken off the attack as the Indians sought to utilize the third power play of five overs. It broke the shackles off the New Zealand batsmen who took 10 runs off Pathan's first over of his returning spell.

Sehwag was brought back once power play ended and met with his third success as Scott Styris (37 off 41 balls) was stumped yards down the track.

The attack was now in the spinners' hands and left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh brought India itsfourth success when Craig McCullum (13) edged a catch behind the stumps.

However, Astle paced his innings brilliantly and brought up his hundred inHarbhajan Singh's last over, the 45th of the innings, as New Zealand rushed to their total.

Astle's unbeaten 115 came from 131 balls including 13 fours and a six.

Earlier, New Zealand clawed back from a horrendous start to restrict India to 276 runs.

India had been off to a rollicking start and were 155 for 1 in the 25th over before losing the plotin the middle overs.

Sehwag (75) and Saurav Ganguly (31) had put on 72 from a mere 13-odd overs and Mohammad Kaif (93 not out) only carried the good work which suggested a 300-plus total before some soft dismissals set India back greatly.

Daniel Vettori was the chief tormentor for the Indians as he conceded a mere 35 runs from his 10 overs and picked up two vital wickets in a space of three deliveries.

Vettori's fourth over, the 25th of the innings, was critical in the context as he struck twice to remove Sehwag and Rahul Dravid (0) to bring New Zealand back into the game.

Sehwag was in absolute command and had the bowlers at his mercy when he mistimed a chip shot to be caught at mid-off by Lou Vincent.

Dravid then went back and was deceived by an armer which was plumb in front ofthe wicket.

Sehwag had earlier shaken off his blues of recent times with characteristicpummeling through the off-side cordon as 10 of his 12 fours came in and around the point region.

He began with two fours in two overs off Shane Bond and then shifted his attentionto Kyle Mills whom he steered and then edged for boundaries.

Sehwag greeted Jacob Oram's first ball with a slashing cut past point and repeated the actagainst Astle's first delivery whom he struck for three fours and 14 runs from the over.

Ganguly was all at sea against Bond and got off the mark only on his 12th delivery before slashing a few hits over the off-side field for productive boundaries. Four of his fours came off Mills and one off Oram before he tamely guided an innocuous delivery to the fielder at point region.

Sehwag made 75 for 65 balls with 12 fours and a six while Ganguly's 31 took him 44 balls and included five fours.

Kaif, in excellent touch in this series, played a sumptuous knock in which he picked up the gaps with precision and his driving was a sight to behold.

Unfortuantely, he didn't receive much support from the other end for the rest of the innings. His innings from 110 balls contained eight fours.

Yuvraj, centurion from the last game, struck a sumptuous four over the mid-wicket fielder's head but then hooked Mills tamely to fine leg after making 20 from 32 balls.

Venugopala Rao (8), struck a six over mid-wicket but then hoisted a catch on the onside in the 40th over.

Mahendra Dhoni (11) departed in the 44th over, unlucky to be adjudged leg before wicket.

JP Yadav didn't trouble the scorer as he guided an Oram delivery to wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum and off the next ball Ajit Agarkar too could have been consumed at extra cover but Fleming muffed the chance.

PTI