Cricket: Black Caps fall to India

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka and India qualified for the tri-nation limited-overs cricket final after New Zealand crashed out when losing its second match to India by six wickets on Friday.

The Black Caps opted to bat first after winning the toss and were bundled out for a paltry 155 runs. India reached its target with more than nine overs to spare and six wickets in hand.

Seamer Ashish Nehra and spinner Yuvraj Singh laid the foundation for India's win, taking three wickets apiece which gave their batsmen a relatively easy target to chase under difficult nighttime batting conditions.

Nehra was named player of the match for his efforts.

"The wicket was on a slower side so we needed to bowl a good line and length," Nehra said. "To pick up two or three early wickets was the best thing, that's why we restricted New Zealand to 150."

India suffered an early setback in their chase, losing opener Dinesh Karthik, who was trapped lbw to seam bowler Kyle Mills, when on just seven.

However, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who was playing in his first limited-overs match in nearly two years, combined for a 60-run partnership for the second wicket.

Dravid made 14 before being trapped lbw to seam bowler Jacob Oram. His dismissal triggered a mini collapse as India lost three wickets for 17 runs.

Tendulkar departed on 46 runs that came off 55 balls and included six boundaries. He was caught by Martin Guptill off the spin of New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori.

Thirteen runs later, Yuvraj Singh (8) miscued a shot and was caught by Guptill leaving India on 84-4.

However, captain Mahendra Dhoni and Suresh Raina halted the slide and took their side to victory with an unbroken 72-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

Raina made a 54-ball 45 not out which included three boundaries and two sixes. Dhoni was unbeaten on 35.

"We knew we needed two more wickets to get down to (the) India tail but the partnership Raina and Dhoni put on took the game away from us," Vettori said.

"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. That allowed them to get to the score."

Earlier, Nehra provided India a good start with the ball by dismissing both Black Caps openers, who managed four runs between them.

He trapped Jesse Ryder (0) and Brendon McCullum (3) leg-before and returned to dismiss tailender Ian Bulter and end the New Zealand innings.

Yuvraj capitalized on the momentum provided by Nehra to run through the middle order. He had Guptill (22) caught by Dravid at slip, Grant Elliot (22) caught behind by captain Dhoni and Neil Broom (21) caught by Raina.

Nehra finished with figures of 3-24 while Yuvraj returned 3-31. R.P. Singh and Ishant Sharma collected two wickets each.

New Zealand struggled on the slow pitch at R.Premadasa Stadium, resulting in a dearth of partnerships despite a few batsmen making good starts.

Skipper Vettori's 25 off 36 balls was the top-score for the Black Caps.

New Zealand, which lost the series opener earlier this week, had to win the match to have a chance of reaching the final of the short series.

Sri Lanka and India will play a scheduled match Saturday before Monday's final.

-AP