The strike power of Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina delivered India a 53-run win in a rain-marred opening one-day international against New Zealand here Tuesday. It was the perfect response from India after they lost the two Twenty20 matches which opened their tour.
With the match first reduced to 38 overs each, under the Duckworth-Lewis system New Zealand were set an imposing target of 278 in reply to India's 273 for four. They were already watching the run rate rise at an alarming pace when a second rain disruption revised the target to 216 from 28 overs, meaning New Zealand needed 105 from the remaining 7.1 overs.
They flayed away, but the game was already gone and at the close New Zealand were 162 for nine. The damage was done at the start when opener Sehwag set the pace with a typically aggressive 77 and Dhoni provided stability through the innings with an unbeaten 84. But when it became obvious the run rate would be crucial after the first two-hour rain break, Raina blazed away for 66 off 39 balls to put India in a secure position.
"The start is important for us. If we get a good start we've got the fire power to capitalise on that," Dhoni said. New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori also singled out Raina as central to India's win. Sehwag and Dhoni upped the tempo and reached 121 in the 19th over, until Sehwag's punishing spell ended when he belted Vettori towards the boundary only to see Ross Taylor take a magnificent catch diving to his left. The second match of the five-game series is in Wellington on Friday.
SCOREBOARD
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India:
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V. Sehwag c Taylor b Vettori 77
S. Tendulkar c McCullum b Butler 20
M. Dhoni not out 84
Y. Singh run out (Guptill/Vettori) 2
S. Raina c O'Brien b Elliott 66
Y. Pathan not out 20
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Extras: (b 1, lb 1, nb 2) 4
Total: (3 wickets) 273
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Overs: 38
Fall of wickets: 1-69, 2-121, 3-131, 4-241.
Bowling: Mills 7-0-69-0 (2nb), O'Brien 8-1-52-0, Butler 8-1-42-1, Oram 2-0-19-0, Vettori 8-0-42-1, Ryder 3-0-27-0, Elliott 2-0-20-1
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New Zealand:
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J. Ryder c Sehwag b Kumar 11
McCullum c Harbhajan b Kumar 0
M. Guptill c Gambhir b Harbhajan Singh 64
R. Taylor c Tendulkar b Pathan 31
G. Elliott run out (Sehwag/Dhoni) 11
J. Oram c Dhoni b Yuvraj Singh 0
N. Broom st Dhoni b Harbhajan Singh 2
D. Vettori not out 26
I. O'Brien not out 3
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Extras: (lb 10, w 3, nb 1) 14
Total: (9 wickets) 162
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Overs: 28
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-23, 3-81, 4-111, 5-111, 6-132, 7-132, 8-132, 9-132.
Bowling: Khan 6-1-19-1 (1nb), Kumar 6-1-28-2 (2w), Patel 2-0-14-0, Yuvraj Singh 6-0-42-1, Pathan 4-0-22-1 (1w), Harbhajan Singh 4-0-27-3
Toss: India
Result: India win by 53 runs under Duckworth-Lewis and lead the five-match series 1-0
Umpires: Tony Hill (NZL), Rudi Koertzen (RSA), Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI).
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