Tendulkar knocked out the Kiwis single handedly with his 43rd ODI hundred. He had wonderful opportunity to go past 200 but his abdonminal pain forced him to retire hurt. He was in full form punishing all kinds of deliveries.
Another record could have been broken by the Indians if they had scored another 7 runs. The Indian innings ended at 393 in the allotted 50 overs.
This is the third time that Sachin has scored more than 150 in an ODI. His highest, an unbeaten 186 off 150 balls with 20 fours and 3 sixes came against New Zealand in Hyderabad in 1999.
The second highest came of today's match--the 3rd ODI against New Zealand in Christchurch in 2008. He scored an unbeatn 163 off 133 balls with 16 fours and 5 sixes.
His third highest came against Namibia in 2003. He scored 152 in 151 balls with 18 fours.
Sehwag went early for 3 in the third over, bowled by Mills. Gambhir also did not stay long as he was caught behind for 15 of Butler. Yuvaraj and Sachin blasted the bowlers all over the park.
The match turned in favor of India during the batting power play. India were 58 for 1 at the end of first powerplay of 10 overs. They added another 19 runs in the bowling powerplay of 5 overs.
Once Yuvi and Tendulkar settled, things were different. At the end of 22 overs, India were 121 for 2. During the batting powerplay, every over had a six and a four. They added 69 runs in the 5 overs with Yuvaraj moving to 78 from 34 before the powerplay and Tendulkar to 82 from 58.
Tendulkar: 50 off 59 balls with 7 fours; 100 off 101 balls with 10 fours and 2 sixes; 150 off 127 balls with 15 fours and 4 sixes; Yuvaraj: 50 off 42 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes.
Tendulkar took just 26 balls to move from 100 to 150. He played like he used to play in his starting days. If he had stayed, considering his form, he would have definitly crossed 200, which no one has scored in ODI history so far. It would have another achievement in his career.
The abdominal injury he had during the 2nd ODI when trying to pull O'Brien created more pain during his firing knock. He later said that he had pain but carried on with the innings as it was bearable at the beginning. Later, it increased and I couldn't carry on.
Dhoni,continued from where Yuvi left. With his firing knock, he added one more to his number of fifties. He scored 68 off 58 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes.
Southee's bowling figures had three figures in the runs column. No one sees that kind of bowling figures that often. He went for 105 runs without a wicket in his 10 overs. He conceeded 46 runs in his first 6 overs.
Chasing an almost impossible target, New Zealand started the innings well. Thanks to Dhoni and Yousuf Pathan, both dropped a sitter catch for Ryder at 32 and McCullum at 38 respectively. If these catches had been taken, the match would have turned in India's favor long back. McCullum and Ryder utilized the life given to them and added 166 for the first wicket in 22 overs.
Ryden went on to score a wonderful century before being run out due to misunderstanding between him and Elliott. During the last few overs, Mills and Southee started hammering the Indian attack. They added 83 runs in 7 overs which put lot of pressure on Indian bowling attack. Munaf Patel was removed from the attack as he bowled two beamers in the same over. He would have gone past 100 runs in his bowling, thankfully removed by the umpire.
In the 45th over, first ball was a six by Mills, Mills was caught in the second ball but it was a no ball due to chest height full toss, third ball was a single by Southee, fourth one was again a beamer and was sent out of bowling.
Pathan, who bowled the remaining four deliveries, had Mills caught at short fine leg. He tried to sweet it past Zaheer, but ended up giving a simple catch to him.
With 59 runs required of last 5 overs, Praveen Kumar took the last wicket. Southee tried to pull the short length delivery, but didn't time it well, took the top edge and Praveen Kumar took a simple catch.
Records:
Equalled highest number of sixes by a team in an ODI--18;
Highest number of sixes in an ODI match--31;
Highest score by the Indian team in an ODI--393 for 4 in 50 overs
Since Vettori was not able, Brendon McCullum lead the NZ side.
This is what the captain and man of the match Tendulkar said durin the presentation. Thanks to cricinfo.com.
McCullum: "We didn't bowl well enough. It was amazing batting from the Indians, but from our point of view we weren't accurate enough. I did enjoy the opportunity of captaining my side, but unfortunately we weren't good enough. The fact that Butler was injured halfway through the spell and that Oram wasn't able to finish his spell did affect us. A good opening stand was the only chance we had, but despite the slide later on, I'm proud of the way we played."
Dhoni: "It's disappointing we dropped those catches early on, the bowling was simply not up to the mark. It was a pleasure to watch Sachin, and Yuvraj, once he gets going, it's hard to stop him, especially on such grounds. Our batting is our strength, and if you post a big total you can put any side under pressure even if you are playing with four bowlers. We were worried about the scares during the opening stand and the late resistance, but it was all a matter of getting wickets which we managed to do"
Sachin Tendulkar: "I started off well in Wellington and was able to carry that form into this one. I haven't played as many ODIs in New Zealand as a result of injury, and it feels great to have scored my first century here. The pitch was excellent, so was the ground. You need to get used to the dimensions here and bat accordingly."
Scoreboard:
Tour: India to New Zealand
Series: ODI
Match #: 3
Date: Sunay March 8, 2009
Venue: Christchurch
Captains: Bendon McCullum (NZ) and MS Dhoni (Ind)
Umpires: GAV Baxter and RE Koertzen; EA Watkin-third umpire
Toss: NS won the toss and decided to field
Match: India won by 58 runs
Man of the Match: Sachin Tendulkar off India
India 393 for 4 in 50 overs (V Sehwag bowled Mills 3, Tendulkar retired hurt 163, Gambhir caught McGlashan bowled Butler 15, Yuvaraj Singh caught McGlashan bowled Elliott 87, MS Dhoni caught McGlashan bowled Mills 68, SK Raina 38 not out, Yousuf Pathan 1 not out, Extras--17 (lb 5, w 8, nb 4), KD Mills 10-0-58-2, TG Southee 10-0-105-0, IG Butler 5-0-37-1, JPD Oram 8-1-34-0, JS Patel 5-0-37-0, JD Ryder 5-0-56-0, GD Elliott 7-0-60-1)
Fall of Wickets: 1-15 (Sehwag, 2.4 ov), 2-65 (Gambhir, 12.4 ov), 3-203 (Yuvraj Singh, 29.2 ov), 3-338* (Tendulkar, retired not out, 44.6 ov), 4-382 (Dhoni, 48.4 ov)
New Zealand 334 all out in 45.1 overs (JD Ryder caught Zaheer bowled Harbhajan 105, BB McCullum run out (Raina/Dhoni) 71, LRPL Taylor run out (Yuvaraj/Dhoni) 7, MJ Guptill LBW Yuvaraj 1, GD Elliott bowled Zaheer 18, JDP Oram bowled Harbhajan 7, PD McGlashan bowled Zaheer 7, Butler bowled Yuvaraj 24, Mills caught Zaheer bowled Y Pathan 54, Southee caught and bowled Praveen Kumar 32, JS Patel 0 not out, Extras--8 (lb 2, w 4, nb 3), Zaheer Khan 9-0-65-2, Praveen Kumar 8.1-0-60-1, Munaf Patel 7.2-0-79-0, Yuvaraj 10-0-71-2, Harbhajan Singh 10-0-56-2, Yousuf Pathan 0.4-0-1-1)
Fall of Wickets: 1-166 (McCullum, 21.6 ov), 2-179 (Taylor, 24.2 ov), 3-182 (Guptill, 25.3 ov), 4-188 (Ryder, 26.6 ov), 5-203 (Oram, 30.3 ov), 6-217 (Elliott, 33.3 ov), 7-218 (McGlashan, 33.5 ov), 8-251 (Butler, 37.6 ov), 9-334 (Mills, 44.6 ov), 10-334 (Southee, 45.1 ov)
