New Zealand belted their way to a seven-wicket win over India in an explosive Twenty20 cricket match yesterday that produced a record number of sixes.
India, world champions at the shortest form of the game, fired from the start when they were sent into bat first in their New Zealand tour opener. But they lost wickets at regular intervals and were 162 for eight at the end of their innings.
New Zealand, with Brendon McCullum carrying his bat through their innings, replied with 166 for three, the winning runs coming from a six over the cover boundary by Jacob Oram.
PHOTO: AP
It was the 24th six of the match, played on a ground with short boundaries, easily surpassing the previous record of 20 set by Australia and India in Durban two years ago during the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup.
Virender Sehwag started the six fest, clouting three off consecutive balls in the first over as India raced to 25 in the first 11 balls.
But their rollicking start was short-lived, with Iain O’Brien removing both openers in consecutive balls.
Gautam Gambhir went for six on the last ball of O’Brien’s first over and Sehwag was bowled for 26 on the first ball of his second over leaving Rohit Sharma to avoid the hattrick.
But Sharma’s innings lasted only seven balls, indicative of the problems the Indian batsmen had in trying to force the pace on a slow wicket.
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni described it as a good lesson in Twenty20 batting.
“That’s where we failed as a team, there was nobody who took the responsibility to stay there in the middle,” he said. “Losing too many wickets, later you can’t really capitalize on the start you have got. So it’s very important to have wickets in hand so you can capitalize on maybe the last four or five overs.”
The most pleasing aspect for New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori was the way his bowlers responded to the heavy Indian hitting.
“For our guys to respond to that and to restrict India to 160 after getting away so quickly and also with how small the boundaries are — one side was just a toy hit — so really happy with them,” Vettori said.
Only Suresh Raina looked to have a game plan for India and his unbeaten 61, including five sixes, formed the backbone of the tourists’ innings.
The second and final Twenty20 match in the series is in Wellington tomorrow, to be followed by five one-day internationals and three Tests.
■PAKISTAN V SRI LANKA
AFP, KARACHI,PAKISTAN
The first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka ended in a draw after some late excitement when the tourists lost quick wickets, briefly raising hopes of an unlikely result yesterday.
The tourists averted defeat after losing five wickets for just 120 runs, finishing the match with the score of 144-5 in their second innings.
Pakistan captain Younus Khan failed to create history as he fell for 313, 24 runs short of Pakistan’s highest Test score of 334 held by Hanif Mohammad, made against the West Indies at Barbados in 1958.
The second and final Test starts in Lahore on Sunday.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was