Cricket: Black Caps tumble out of series

New Zealand's batsmen crumbled to a record-low score against India in a meek 105-run loss that eliminates them from the tri-series cricket tournament in Sri Lanka.

A belligerent century to Indian opener Virender Sehwag proved the difference in a virtual semifinal to decide who played Sri Lanka in the tournament final on Saturday with tailender Kyle Mills the only New Zealand batsman able to hold his head up.

Mills blasted 52 to add a skerrick of respectability to an innings of 118 - their lowest one-day score against India - chasing a target of 224.

The last man out in the 31st over, Mills' 35 ball knock featured seven fours and three sixes. The next highest score was 13 to Kane Williamson, having scored his first international runs after starting his career with two ducks.

New Zealand's campaign started brightly but tailed off badly. They beat India by a record 200 runs in the tournament opener before suffering a loss and a washout in their two matches against Sri Lanka.

They were always on the back foot in today's run chase, slumping to 22 for four and 53 for eight as the batsmen struggled with the prodigious movement of the Indian seamers. Praveen Kumar took three for 34 and Munaf Patel three for 21.

Sehwag struck 110 off 93 balls and was the only batsman to thrive in difficult conditions, seeing off a lively New Zealand effort with the ball which left India teetering at 66 for four.

"The way Sehwag batted, it took the game away from us," said New Zealand captain Ross Taylor.

"They then bowled full and straight and made us make tough decisions. The ball has been swinging all through the tournament."

Indian counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who shared a decisive 107-run fifth-wicket stand with Sehwag, enjoyed watching the opener's power and justifying the decision to bat first.

"He (Sehwag) is the only batsman who seems to be middling the ball well. It was really good to bat with him," Dhoni said.

"In the second half of the game, the bowlers did the job for us. We give Praveen the new ball because he has a good control over his swing. Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel also did a good job."

New Zealand seamers Tim Southee, Mills and Andy McKay tested the Indian batsmen with pace and bounce in sharp opening spells to seize the early initiative.

Southee finished with an impressive four for 49 and offspinner Nathan McCullum claimed three for 35.

SCOREBOARD

India

Dinesh Karthik c Hopkins b Mills 0
Virender Sehwag c Watling b McCullum 110
Virat Kohli c Hopkins b Southee 8
Yuvraj Singh c Hopkins b McKay 6
Suresh Raina c Williamson b Southee 1
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Hopkins b McCullum 38
Ravindra Jadeja c Taylor b Southee 17
Praveen Kumar c Mills b Southee 6
Ashish Nehra c and b McCullum 0
Ishant Sharma not out 8
Munaf Patel c McKay b Mills 7
Extras: (1b, 5lb, 2nb, 14w) 22
TOTAL: (all out) 223
Overs: 46.3

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-27, 3-61, 4-66, 5-173, 6-199, 7-199, 8-207, 9-207, 10-223.

Bowling: Kyle Mills 8.3-1-42-2 (2nb, 1w), Tim Southee 10-2-49-4 (3w), Andy McKay 8-1-31-1 (4w), Scott Styris 6-0-37-0 (2w), Nathan McCullum 10-0-35-3 (1w), Kane Williamson 4-0-23-0 (3w).

New Zealand

BJ Watling b Nehra 2
Martin Guptill lbw b Kumar 0
Ross Taylor c Dhoni b Kumar 8
Grant Elliott lbw b Patel 11
Scott Styris b Kumar 1
Kane Williamson b Sharma 13
Gareth Hopkins lbw b Patel 0
Nathan McCullum c Karthik b Patel 5
Kyle Mills c Kumar b Nehra 52
Tim Southee c Kumar b Jadeja 10
Andy McKay not out 3
Extras: (5lb, 8w) 13
TOTAL: (all out) 118
Overs: 30.1

Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-6, 3-14, 4-22, 5-41, 6-42, 7-52, 8-53, 9-80, 10-118.

Bowling: Praveen Kumar 8-2-34-3 (2w), Ashish Nehra 6.1-1-10-2 (3w), Munaf Patel 7-1-21-3 (3w), Ishant Sharma 6-1-27-1, Ravindra Jadeja 3-0-21-1.

Result: India won by 105 runs.

- NZPA/AFP