Praveen Kumar grabbed three early wickets and Virender Sehwag smashed a superb century as India entered the tri-series final with an emphatic 105-run win over New Zealand on Wednesday. India, with 10 points from four matches, will clash with Sri Lanka (11 from four) in the final on Saturday. New Zealand finished their league engagements with seven points.
Paceman Kumar finished with 3-34 as New Zealand, chasing a 224-run target, were shot out for 118 in 30.1 overs - their lowest total against India in one-day internationals. India were indebted to Sehwag for posting a competitive total as the hard-hitting opener cracked one six and 16 fours in a 93-ball 110 for his 13th one-day hundred. India virtually wrapped up the match when they sent New Zealand struggling at 22-4 in the ninth over, with Kumar taking three wickets. Tail-ender Kyle Mills hammered an entertaining 52 for his second half-century in one-dayers, but his knock came too late to stop India from the winning the match.
Mills hit three sixes and seven fours in his 35-ball knock. Kane Williamson (13), Grant Elliott (11) and Tim Southee (10) were the others to reach double-figures in New Zealand's disappointing batting performance. Fast bowlers Munaf Patel (3-21) and Ashish Nehra (2-10) were India's other main wicket-takers. New Zealand paceman Southee (4-49) and off-spinner Nathan McCullum (3-35) earlier shared seven wickets to bowl India out for a modest total despite Sehwag's century.
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Scoreboard India:
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D. Karthik c Hopkins b Mills 0
V. Sehwag c Watling b McCullum 110
V. Kohli c Hopkins b Southee 8
Y. Singh c Hopkins b McKay 6
S. Raina c Williamson b Southee 1
M. Dhoni c Hopkins b McCullum 38
R. Jadeja c Taylor b Southee 17
P. Kumar c Mills b Southee 6
A. Nehra c and b McCullum 0
I. Sharma not out 8
M. Patel c McKay b Mills 7
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Extras: (b1, lb5, nb2, w14) 22
Total: (all out; 46.3 overs) 223
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Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-27, 3-61, 4-66, 5-173, 6-199, 7-199, 8-207, 9-207, 10-223.
Bowling: Mills 8.3-1-42-2 (nb2, w1), Southee 10-2-49-4 (w2), McKay 8-1-31-1 (w4), Styris 6-0-37-0 (w2), McCullum 10-0-35-3 (w2), Williamson 4-0-23-0 (w3).
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New Zealand:
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BJ Watling b Nehra 2
M. Guptill lbw b Kumar 0
R. Taylor c Dhoni b Kumar 8
G. Elliott lbw b Patel 11
S. Styris b Kumar 1
K. Williamson b Sharma 13
G. Hopkins lbw b Patel 0
N. McCullum c Karthik b Patel 5
K. Mills c Kumar b Nehra 52
T. Southee c Kumar b Jadeja 10
A. McKay not out 3
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Extras: (lb5, w8) 13
Total: (all out; 30.1 overs) 118
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Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-6, 3-14, 4-22, 5-41, 6-42, 7-52, 8-53, 9-80, 10-118.
Bowling: Kumar 8-2-34-3 (w2), Nehra 6.1-1-10-2 (w3), Patel 7-1-21-3 (w3), Sharma 6-1-27-1, Jadeja 3-0-21-1.
Result: India win by 105 runs
Toss: India
Umpires: Asad Rauf (PAK) and Asoka de Silva (SRI)
TV umpire: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI)
Match referee: Alan Hurst (AUS)
Final: Sri Lanka v India on Saturday.
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