Dhoni Leads India to Impressive Win Before WC

Chennai: India registered yet another impressive win in its second and final warm-up game against New Zealand on Tuesday at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium.

After opting to bat first, India posted 360 for 5 in its 50 overs. New Zealand was bowled out for 243 after 43.1 overs in its chase, as India won by 117 runs.

Earlier, India lost its openers early, but consolidated through a third wicket stand of 106 between Virat Kohli (59: 68b, 7x4) and Gautam Gambhir (89: 85b, 11x4).

Gambhir then added 68 runs with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Suresh Raina (50: 26b, 4x4, 3x6) was promoted in the order. Raina and Dhoni (108 not out: 64b, 11x4, 3x6) added 124 runs off 9.2 overs as India shot past 300 in the slog overs.

For New Zealand Jacob Oram struck early blows (2-70).

In its chase, Brendon McCullum (58: 54b, 7x4) added 94 runs for the opening wicket with Martin Guptill (38). But the fall of regular wickets meant New Zealand was always behind the asking rate.

For India, Ashish Nehra (2-55), Yuvraj Singh (2-33), Harbhajan Singh (2-17) and Piyush Chawla (2-39) shared the wickets around. In the end, hosts ran home easy victors with plenty to spare.

Raina made a quick fire 50 off just 26 balls with three huge sixes and four boundaries and added 124 runs in 9.2 overs along with Dhoni.

For the hapless New Zealand, Jacob Oram and Tim Southee were the most successful bowlers sharing two wickets each, while Kyle Mills accounted for one wicket.

Earlier, Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar started cautiously after Dhoni won the toss for the second time and elected to bat.

The Kiwi pacers extracted bounce and also kept up a steady line in length to stifle the Indian openers.

Tendulkar (17) was the first to go with the scoreboard reading 35 and soon Sehwag (23) followed suit as India were reduced to 42/2.

However, Gambhir hit form at the right time and resurrected the Indian batting along with Virat Kohli (59), adding 106 crucial runs for the third wicket to save India from the embarrassment of another batting collapse like in Bangalore against Australia.

After Kohli's departure, Gambhir involved in a 68-run stand for the fourth wicket with Dhoni. The hosts made good use of the opportunities and also showed better on field intensity as both Gambhir and Dhoni rotated their strike and looked for big runs.

Brief scores
India 360 for 5 (Dhoni 108*, Gambhir 89, Kohli 59, Raina 50)
New Zealand 243 (BB McCullum 58)
Result India won by 117 runs