08 March,2009 02:47 PM IST | | PTI
Sachin Tendulkar smashed a breath-taking 163 to set up India's thumping 53-run win over New Zealand in the third one-dayer to give visitors an unassailable 2-0 lead in the five-match series here on Sunday.
Put in to bat by stand-in Kiwi captain Brendon McCullum, a vintage Sachin Tendulkar scored his 43rd century, his maiden ton in New Zealand, before retiring hurt to guide India to an intimidating 392 for four. New Zealand made a strong reply with the pair of McCullum (71) and Jesse Ryder (105) stitching a 166-run partnership for the opening wicket before losing way in the middle overs.
The home team were shot out for 334 in the 45.1 overs. They will have to win the remaining two matches on March 11 (Hamilton) and March 14 (Auckland) if they want to square the series.
Some big hitting by Ryder and McCullum alongwith lethargic fielding by the Indians show meant the home side raced to 166 for none in the 22nd over but once the openers made way to the hut the Kiwi middle order collapsed to 218 for seven in the 34th over. Kyle Mills (54) and Tim Southee made a brief resistance by sharing an 83-run partnership for the ninth wicket before the inevitable happened.
Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh took two Kiwi wickets each conceding 56, 65 and 71 runs, respectively.
Tendulkar, whose previous best in New Zealand had been an 84 in Dunedin in March 1994, was in his sublime touch hitting 16 fours and five sixes in 133 balls before retiring hurt in the 45th over in the day-nighter.
At one time, it looked like Tendulkar would get past his own best innings of 186u00a0u2014 that too against New Zealand in Hyderabad in November 1999 u2014 and even Pakistan's Saeed Anwar's all time highest score of 194 was not out of danger.
Playing in his 425th match, the master batsman, who hit his last century (117 not out) in Sydney against Australia in March last year, shared a quickfire 100-ball 138 runs for the third wicket with Yuvraj who made a brilliant 60-ball 87 (10x4; 6x6) to give nightmare to the home team in the crucial match.
With captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni chipping in with a 58-ball 68 and Suresh Raina contributing an 18-ball 38 which included five sixes, Indian posted their second-highest ODI total, the best being the 413 they made against Bermuda in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.
The visitors, who were 283 for 3 at the end of 40th over, looked like crossing the 400 mark, which would have been their second such feat, but in the end fell short by eight runs.
