Triangular one-day international series, Colombo:
India 156-4 (40.3 ovs) bt New Zealand 155 (46.3 ovs) by six wickets
Match scorecard
 Dhoni averages over 50 in one-day international matches |
New Zealand lost for the second game in succession as India knocked them out of the triangular one-day series with a six-wicket victory in Colombo. Jesse Ryder fell to the third ball and left-armer Ashish Nehra also ousted Brendon McCullum in his next over. Daniel Vettori made 25 but his side were 155 all out with 21 balls unused. Sachin Tendulkar hit six fours in 46 in reply, before skipper Mahendra Dhoni and Suresh Raina shared an unbroken 72 to win it with 57 deliveries left. That leaves an inconsequential final group match between India and Sri Lanka on Saturday, before they meet again in Monday's final. Having been bowled out for 119 in the opening defeat by the Sri Lankans it was another abject batting display from New Zealand, who were 19-3 when Ross Taylor fished at one that moved away and was caught behind in the sixth over.  | We knew we needed two more wickets to get to India's tail but the partnership Raina and Dhoni put on took the game away from us |
Tendulkar was fluent with his driving, Ian Butler dispatched for boundaries on either side of the wicket in his first over, the 11th of the innings. He shared 60 with former skipper Rahul Dravid, who made a rather more sedate 14 from 45 balls in his first one-day international since October 2007. Both were dismissed in the space of eight balls but Raina hit two sixes, the only maximums of the match, to dominate the match-winning partnership with his captain Dhoni. Nehra won the man-of-the-match award and said: "The wicket was on the slower side so we needed to bowl a good line and length. To pick up two or three early wickets was the best thing, that's why we restricted them to 150." Kiwi skipper Vettori said: "We knew we needed two more wickets to get to India's tail but the partnership Raina and Dhoni put on took the game away from us. "Particularly Raina took a few more risks and hit boundaries and that took the pressure off them a little bit, they ran their singles very well, they just did the simple things well on a really difficult wicket."
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