Sehwag Century And Fine Bowling See India Into Final

Sehwag Century And Fine Bowling Sees India Into Final

Virender Sehwag celebrates his century, which set up India's convincing win

©REUTERS/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds (SRI LANKA - Tags: SPORT CRICKET) Picture Supplied by Action Images

India 223 (Sehwag 110, Southee 4-49) beat
New Zealand 118 (Mills 52, Patel 3-21) by 105 runs
One-Day International tri-series game six, Dambulla
Scorecard

Virender Sehwag scored a century before Munaf Patel and Praveen Kumar both took three wickets to seal a crushing 105-run win for India over New Zealand in the final group game of the One-Day International tri-series in Dambulla.

The emphatic victory sealed India's place in Saturday's final against hosts Sri Lanka and came after New Zealand were dismissed for 118 in reply to India's 223.

Sehwag's 110 in 93 balls set up India's winning score but only two others players reached double figures as Tim Southee returned figures of four for 49.

He hit 16 fours and a six in his aggressive innings before he was caught by BJ Watling off Nathan McCullum. Fast bowler Southee struck to dismiss Virat Kohli (8), Suresh Raina (1), Ravi Jadeja (17) and Praveen Kumar (6) after New Zealand were given a flying start when Kyle Mills had opener Dinesh Karthik caught behind in the first over of the match.

He went on to have Munaf Patel caught by Andy McKay to return two for 42 while off-spinner McCullum also dismissed Mahendra Singh Dhoni (38) and Ashish Nehra (0) to take three for 35.

McKay was the other man to take a wicket when he had Yuvraj Singh caught by Gareth Hopkins.

New Zealand then made a poor start, With Kumar removing Martin Guptill for nought and captain Ross Taylor for six and Nehra bowling BJ Watling for two to leave the Black Caps at 14 for three.

Wickets continued to tumble, Patel dismissing Grant Elliott (11), Hopkins (0) and McCullum (5) and Kumar bowling Scott Styris for one and in the 25th over, New Zealand were out of the game having been reduced to 80 for nine.

Some big hitting from Mills got them past the century, and he slammed seven fours and three sixes in a defiant 35-ball innings of 52 before he was the last man to fall, caught by Kumar off Nehra.

Kane Williamson (13) and Southee (10) were the only other players to reach double figures.

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