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 India very nearly wasted a century effort by Virender Sehwag before scampering for a narrow one-wicket victory against New Zealand in a nerve-wracking sixth one-day international here today. Sehwag cracked a brilliant 112, his second hundred of this series, to bring India within 17 runs of New Zealand’s total of 199 for nine but the visitors lost six wickets in a space of 15 runs to make a complete mess of the easy situation.
In a dramatic finish, Ashish Nehra struck a boundary off the penultimate ball of the match to bring India their second successive victory of the seven-match series, which the home team has already clinched after winning the first four games. It was a typical example of a nervous breakdown of the Indian batsmen in pressure situation after Sehwag was dismissed at the total of 182 in the 42nd over. The Indians had seven overs to get 18 runs with six wickets in hand.
But Yuvraj Singh (8), Mohammad Kaif (7), Sanjay Bangar (1), Ajit Agarkar (0) and Zaheer Khan (0) could not keep their cool and got out one after the other to induce drama where there was none. The nervousness of the Indians was best exemplified in the run outs of Agarkar and Zaheer Khan, who reached the other end without even looking at their partner. It came down to four runs needed from the last over. The usually cool Kaif and Zaheer Khan were dismissed before Nehra pulled Andre Adams over the crowded infield to bring relief on the faces of the Indians. The Indians had earlier displayed their best batting performance of the tour with Sehwag putting up 70 runs for the first wicket with captain Sourav Ganguly and 72 for the second with Rahul Dravid to put the side firmly on path of victory.
Dravid was celebrating his 30th birthday today but it was Sehwag who got the gifts from lady luck. Sehwag was dropped twice and escaped easy run out chances on a number of occasions. In between, a few of his shots landed between the fielders.
But he used his luck to maximum advantage and played a belligerent knock that included 11 fours and three sixes. Ganguly played the most comfortable innings of this tour before edging an Adams delivery to wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum after making 23 with four fours. His five earlier innings in this series had produced just 20 runs.
Dravid played a typical knock of 21 runs before falling leg before wicket to Scott Styris in the 33rd over. Sachin Tendulkar failed yet again, edging a Daryl Tuffey delivery to McCullum after scoring just one run from 15 balls. But Sehwag continued to score with a flourish and reached his century with a four against Kyle Mills. He then lofted a slower delivery from the bowler straight into the stands for his third six. His first two sixes had come against Styris and Daryl Tuffey respectively. New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who had dropped Sehwag earlier, made amends when he took an outside edge of the batsman in the 42nd over.
Earlier, New Zealand were helped by a 80-run fifth wicket partnership between Styris and Lou Vincent and a cameo from Shane Bond in the final overs to reach a near-200 total. Put in to bat on a damp pitch, New Zealand had crashed to 50 for four in the 19th over before Styris and Vincent came up with a fine recovery act. They braved the Indian attack for 20 overs to take the score to 130 before Ganguly broke the partnership by having Styris caught by Bangar. Styris made 42 with seven fours while Vincent remained unbeaten on 53 with three fours and a six.
The dismissal of Styris triggered a collapse which saw New Zealand lose four wickets for 17 runs before Vincent and Bond hammered 52 runs from the last 21 balls to take India completely by surprise. Bond hammered three sixes and two boundaries to score 31 runs off just 15 balls. Once again, Srinath proved to be India's best bowler, claiming three wickets for just 13 runs in his ten-over spell. Zaheer Khan, Nehra, Agarkar and Ganguly took one wicket each.
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