Sehwag blasts India into triseries final

When chairman of the national selectors Chandu Borde stepped out of a selection committee meeting at the Cricket Club of India this afternoon to announce the Indian squad for the three-Test series against Lanka, the Indians openers had already begun their response to the New Zealand total of 264.

A good thing it was, too -- Virendra Sehwag was too busy putting the Kiwi attack to the sword to realise that he had been dropped from the squad.

Sometimes, you begin to wonder if the national selectors get sick and tired of ending up with a face full of egg. Earlier in this series, when Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly preferred Sehwag to Khurasiya for the opener's berth, the selectors were miffed. Chandu Borde in fact fretted and fumed in the media, and said that he was going to demand an explanation from the captain.

Guess who has the last laugh?

On the day, Sehwag produced an innings of such electrifying power that match referee Cammie Smith must have been sorely tempted to fine him his entire match fees for intimidatory batting. India was engaged in the biggest chase of the tournament so far -- and Sehwag, single-handedly and inside the first 15 overs, ensured that it was a no contest.

The first half of the match though promised a closer contest. Stephen Fleming won the toss and, in good batting conditions, opted for first strike.

50 overs later, the Kiwis -- powered by yet another Nathan Astle century -- had 264 on the board. And two statistics stayed top of the mind as you tried to understand how that happened. One was a basic stat: 35 extras, including a mammoth 18 wides. The other was not so obvious: In the last 15 overs of the Kiwi innings, the Indian bowlers sent down as many as 6 overs that were taken for 10 runs or more.

Contrast that with the fact that in the previous encounter between the two sides (which New Zealand won), India sent down only four 10+ overs in the entire innings and in its winning performance yesterday against Sri Lanka, only one over in the Lankan innings went for more than 10.

The Indian seamers began well, keeping the Kiwi openers from breaking free. In the 9th over, Zahir Khan disguised a slower one cleverly, to have Sinclair miscue an attempted whip off his pads straight to square leg.

From that point on, Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle settled down to steady -- if somewhat slow -- run accumulation. Check the rate of progression: 14/0 in 5, 31/1 in 10, 55/1 in 15, 71/1 in 20, 96/1 in 25, 122/1 in 30, 151/1 in 35.

Neither batsman took the least risk, the emphasis obviously being to ensure that they had wickets in hand for a late onslaught. Astle and Fleming in fact played the way Yuvraj and Dravid had the day before -- bat close to the body, very straight and as far as possible, in the V.

Yuvraj Singh, who in this series has matured into an attacking spinning option for the Indians, took out Fleming with one that beat the batsman for flight and turn as the Kiwi skipper skipped down the track, for Dighe to produce a brilliant stumping on the dive.

Yuvraj pulled another wicket out of the hat when he had the impetuous McMillan reverse sweeping him straight to Sodhi at point, to have the Kiwis on 182/3 at the end of the 40 overs.

From there on in, you had to doff your cap to the Black Caps -- Astle and Lou Vincent played a perfectly weighted partnership in the slog phase, using the big hits as punctuation marks for intelligent placing and running between wickets. And suddenly, a bowling attack that has thus far stood against pressure began to develop cracks. Harbhajan Singh had a rare off day, his final over going for 12. The Kiwis then trained their guns on Zahir Khan who, with the ball reverse swinging, lost his usual control.

Astle got to his 11th ODI century in the 47th over -- and the quality of his knock is best illustrated by the fact that it contained as many as 72 dot balls out of 139 faced, and 49 singles -- the pacing of the innings was immaculate.

Ashish Nehra, who again in this game bowled with a groin injury, came back after a first spell of 7-1-15-0 and at least partially undid the damage Zaheer had done. Astle (108 off 143 balls) attempted to chip him over the infield, the late swing caused the miscue, and long off held.

He then followed it up with an amazing final over wherein six balls out of six reversed to land on yorker length. Vincent (45 off 37) , whose superb cameo had given the Kiwis the needed impetus in the slog, played all over one and was bowled. The very next ball had Parore, attempting to flick, beaten and trapped in front. Vettori staved off the hat-trick ball, the last in the innings, and the Kiwis ended up with 264/7 on the board -- by any yardstick, a challenging total (India's asking rate 5.3) and one that, at that point in time, seemed a winner.

But that was before Virendra Sehwag took strike. A cover drive in the first over, played with casual ease belying immense power, was an early indication. India was 19/0 in 5 -- and then, in the sixth over, all hell broke loose. Facing Mills, the opener started with a lovely cover drive hit on the up, then shifted to the back foot to square drive, followed up with a flicked four through midwicket, thick-edged another four to third man. At that point, Sehwag had faced 21 balls and hit 7 fours in his 31 (Gnaguly four runs off 20 balls) -- and he was just beginning.

Nash took over from Mills, and Sehwag clipped him for two fours in his first over. India got to 58/0 in 10, with Sehwag batting 44/27 to Ganguly's 13/33.

Tuffey shared Mills' fate in the 11th. A flick off the pads, followed by a cover drive, powered the opener to 52 off jjust 29 balls with 12 fours. Sehwag celebrated with a rocketing square cut, then another cover drive. After playing out one dot ball, he then leant back a touch to transfer the bodyweight onto the back foot, and casually flat-batted a six over long on.

What the assault accomplished was to bring down the asking run rate in one heck of a hurry. At the end of 15 overs, India was cruising at 101/0, at a rate of 6.73. Sehwag had contributed 80 of those runs off just 46 deliveries, while Ganguly who had the luxury of playing himself in without pressure managed 20 off 44. The initial asking rate of 5.3 had been brought down to 4.68.

Another way of looking at it was to measure Sehwag's impact against the opening bowlers. He faced 15 deliveries from Tuffey, and took 32 runs off him with 6 fours. Against Mills, the figures were 14 faced, 25 scored with 6 fours. And against Nash, 13 deliveries produced 18 runs including four fours. In other words, the Kiwi new ball bowlers came in for serious hammer, and the pressure mounted on the support staff.

From then on, both batsmen eased off a touch. Off the last ball of the 23rd over, Sehwag pushed a single to register his first ODI century, off 68 balls -- the seventh fastest in history. Of those 68 balls, the opener had registered 33 dot balls, 16 singles (there were only 4 singles in his first 70 runs), 19 fours, and one six. Contrast that, with the fact that New Zealand's entire innings produced 19 fours and two sixes, and you get a measure of Sehwag's dominance.

One ball later, though, Sehwag was walking back. McMillan, with the first ball of his first over, got the batsman cutting one that was too close to the body for the shot, the ball richocheting off the bottom edge onto the stumps to end an innings that had come out of the blue to stun the Kiwis into seeming submission. The opening partnership had yielded 143 runs off 140 deliveries.

VVS Laxman, as per the word from the Indian camp, is carrying a knee injury that will put him under the surgeon's knife and out of the cricket field for a good six weeks or more. But that is still no excuse for the casual push he aimed at a McMillan delivery on three quarter length on off stump -- Laxman was inside the line when he played the shot, and the ball went straight through onto the off stump (146/2).

Ganguly and Dravid then settled the innings back down and, in the 29th over, the former got to his 40th ODI half century (53 in 85 balls, 55 dot balls, 23 singles, six fours) with India on 158/2.

The Indian captain in fact was looking increasingly in control, his footwork and timing returning to mid-season form when he played a completely needless shot to throw away his wicket. Harris went round the wicket and Ganguly went down on one knee to do god knows what. It looked like the intent was to get cute and paddle the ball away on the leg side, but all that was accomplished was a dolly catch to Fleming at square leg, Ganguly gone for 64 off 103 deliveries and India, at 179/3, slackening its grip on the game.

Thanks largely to Sehwag's blast, though, India was comfortably ahead of the Kiwis heading into the final phase: 162/2 in 30 overs compared to 122/1 by the Kiwis and again, 188/3 in 35 as against the Kiwis' 151/1, 211/3 in 40 as against 182/3 by the Kiwis.

That fact, however, disguised a more crucial factor -- India's asking rate was back over the 5 an over mark (5.49). Very doable, only India had in an earlier game against Sri Lanka, gotten into a similar position and, with wickets in hand, mucked up the ending.

Not this time, though -- the batsmen kept their eye on the target, eased their way along with nicely judged running between wickets punctuated by the odd blistering hit (Dravid's on drives, Badani's blazing straight six followed by a heaved six over midwicket), ensured a win with 7 wickets, and 4.2 overs, in hand.

In the euphoria over Sehwag's innings, it could perhaps be missed that the fourth wicket partnership produced 88 off just 78 balls, with Dravid weighing in with 57 not out off 56 balls, and the hitherto off form Badani producing 35 off 38 to stave off panic and seal the win.

Given the target, this was as emphatic a victory as they come -- and it powered India into the finals after the team looked down and almost out with no win in its first three games.

With the team getting back into form, Sunday's final against Sri Lanka promises to be exciting -- to put it mildly.

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