SPORT-LD TRI 2LST

It was a horrendous shot from the Indian opener as he
poked at a length delivery outside the off stump, edging it to
wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins behind the stump. He paid the
price for fishing out even without getting his eye in.
Virat Kohli, who replaced Rohit Sharma in the team,
joined the action after Karthik's dismissal but could not
survive long, being at the receiving end of a dubious
decision.
Kohli (8) looked stunned when Sri Lankan umpire Ashoka de
Silva gave him out when he edged an outgoing delivery off Tim
Southee to wicketkeeper Hopkins. Television replays picked up
some noise and the snickometer showed there was a slight nick.
Despite the early losses, Sehwag showed his customary
flamboyance as he unleashed a flurry of strokes and scored the
runs at a brisk pace.
Sehwag was particularly severe on Mills as he clobbered
him for two consecutive boundaries and then hammered Southee
for a couple of boundaries.
During the course of the innings, Sehwag became the
seventh batsmen in ODIs to hit 1000 boundaries. The record of
hitting the most number of boundaries in ODIs is held by
Sachin Tendulkar who has 1927 boundaries.
The Indians suffered a big jolt when Yuvraj Singh (6)
also perished in the 12th over to a poor shot with Andy McKay
being the wicket-taker.
Yuvraj attempted a pull shot but his balance was all awry
and he only managed to top edge the ball for the wicketkeeper
to latch on to a superb catch.
The ball climbed just below chest high and Yuvraj tried
to pull it from well outside off stump which accounted for his
wicket.
It was then Suresh Raina's turn to return to the pavilion
and the Indians found themselves in the doldrums at a
precarious 66 for four by the 13th over.
Raina, who has always been vulnerable to shirt pitched
deliveries, paid the price for a faulty pull to a ball that
was not too short.
Raina was quick to get on to the back foot but pulled it
to short midwicket fielder Kane Williamson who dived to his
right to take a good catch.
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sehwag tried to steady
the innings by playing cautiously and punishing only the loose
deliveries.
Both gradually accelerated the pace of scoring after
getting a feel of the conditions and the measure of the rather
spongy track at the Rangiri International stadium.
Sehwag took a single off spinner Williamson to complete
his 13th ODI century which came off just 87 balls.
Spinner Nathan McCullum brought an end to the 107-run
fifth wicket partnership by evicting the dangerous Sehwag soon
after he completed his century, much to the relief of his
teammates.
Sehwag holed out at deep midwicket as a tried to pick
McCullum's flighted delivery from outside off and swung it
straight to the fielder. His knock of 110 came off just 93
ball and was laced with 16 boundaries and a six.
Ravindra Jadeja (17) fell immediately after Dhoni's
departure and Ashish Nehra did not survive long either,
hastening the end of the Indian innings. PTI