So distinguished is
Sachin Tendulkar's career that there's little he hasn't accomplished in 20 years.
But before Sunday(08.03.2009), the great man hadn't made a One Day International century in New Zealand, so he remedied the glitch, riding to 163 with the majesty of a knight in full livery, lance at the ready.
Tendulkar's 43rd century in ODIs was an innings of intelligence, control, skill, and power.
Sachin Tendulkar smashed a breathtaking 163 (retired hurt) to set up India's thumping 58 run win over New Zealand in the third one dayer to give the visitors an unassailable 2-0 lead in the five match series on Sunday.
Stand in New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum won the toss and put India to bat. A vintage Sachin Tendulkar scored his 43rd century, which is his maiden ODI hundred in New Zealand, to guide India to an intimidating 392 for four.
New Zealand made a strong reply with the pair of McCullum (71) and Jesse Ryder (105) stitching a 166-run partnership for the opening wicket before losing way in the middle overs.
The home team were shot out for 334 in the 45.1 overs. They will now have to win the remaining two matches, on Wednesday (March 11, 2009) at Hamilton and on Saturday (March 14, 2009) at Auckland, if they are to square the series.
Big hitting by Ryder and McCullum, along with some lethargic fielding by the Indians meant that the home side raced to 166 for no loss in the 22nd over. But once the openers returned to the hut the hosts middle order collapsed to 218 for seven in the 34th over.
Kyle Mills (54) and Tim Southee put up a brief resistance by sharing an 83-run partnership for the ninth wicket before the inevitable happened.
Harbhajan Singh,
Zaheer Khan and
Yuvraj Singh took two wickets each.
Stand in captain McCullum feels the loss could have been avoided had Ryder and he continued in the middle for another 10 overs.
The Indians hit 18 sixes in the innings to equal the world record, with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni chipping in with a 58 ball 68 and Suresh Raina contributing an 18-ball 38, which included five sixes, the Indians posted their second highest ODI total, the best being the 413 they made against Bermuda in the 2007 World Cup. Dhoni was given a stumping reprieve by Peter McGlashan off Jeetan Patel when he had made barely five.
Posted by Prakash Jadhav | Views 1009 | Share Blog
