India vs New Zealand: Sixth ODI Auckland, New Zealand Report status: End of match

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It's been a strange week for the Indian team, which won its last two one-dayers on a tour full of defeats.

The Indians required number nine batsman Zaheer Khan to get them through in the last one-dayer at Wellington. Today, they required number eleven Ashish Nehra to hit the winning run.

With just four weeks to go for the World Cup, the Indian batters today gave a performance that is sure to give coach John Wright sleepless nights.

Only the top three got into double figures, with Virender Sehwag cracking a flamboyant ton (112). Thanks to him, the Indians looked set to wrap up the match before crashing from a comfortable 182-3 to 198-9 in a matter of five overs.

The team that successfully chased totals in excess of 300 last year was today struggling to overhaul 199.

Skipper Sourav Ganguly inserted the Kiwis on a drop-in wicket at the Eden Park and Javagal Srinath, with 13 wickets from the last five games, bowled better than he had in recent years.

He tested the openers -- skipper Stephen Fleming and Matthew Sinclair -- by pitching the ball up to them. There were no deliveries to drive or pull. Such was his stranglehold that Fleming took 19 balls to get off the mark.

Nehra got the breakthrough when Fleming edged one to Rahul Dravid behind the stumps. Chris Harris came out only to be dismissed for next to nothing as Ajit Agarkar trapped him in front (28-3). The experiment to send in Harris at number three has failed and Fleming -- supposed to be the world's smartest captain -- needs to reconsider this tactic.

Srinath, who bowled a flawless first spell, came back to take the wickets of Sinclair and Chris Cairns off consecutive overs (50-4).

He claimed Cairns in the same manner in which he did in Wellington -- through the gate. Incidentally, Srinath has done wonderfully well abroad. He has said that at home the flat tracks disintegrate his mindset. But give him a pitch with something in it and he is dynamite.

Incidentally, before this game, Srinath had against New Zealand (away from home -- that is, either in NZ or in neutral venue) 35 wickets at an average of 17.03. His economy rate and strike rate were 3.96 and 25.8 respectively.

His ten overs for 13 runs and 3 wickets was the third best by an Indian in a one-dayer. Though 80 per cent of his deliveries were swinging in, not a single run was given through the mid-wicket or mid-on.

Will the upcoming World Cup --- his fourth -- be his swansong?

Scott Styris and Lou Vincent got a crucial fifth-wicket partnership going and added 80 invaluable runs to take the score to 130 for 5. Styris was dismissed for a 52-ball 42.

At 147 for 9, the Kiwi innings was on the brink of disaster and the spectators could be seen heading for refreshments. But Shane Bond and Vincent made 50 runs off 21 balls.

Sixes flew off Bond's bat, and Ganguly must have rued bowling himself at the end. Eighteen runs were scored -- two sixes and a four -- off his over as the Kiwis reached 199.

If only someone can convince Srinath to take his batting and running between the wickets seriously for the next three months, he could well bow out of international cricket a proud man. Every conversation with Srinath gives the impression of a man who has pride and is very harsh on himself.

India were penalised one over for slow over rate.

In spite of his first-ball blob in the previous match, Ganguly took the courageous decision of opening the batting in the company of Sehwag.

With Sehwag batting like he does, Ganguly took his time and settled down. Eschewing the swish outside off, he found some form in the penultimate match of the series.

Ganguly scored a steady 23 before Andre Adams forced him to snick one to keeper Brain McCullum. Rahul Dravid, celebrating his 30th birthday, was involved in a crucial partnership with Sehwag as the match headed India's way.

Their 72-run partnership was broken when Styris trapped Dravid in front for 21 with the visitors at 142-2 in the 33rd over. Sehwag had reached his half-century off 81 balls, which was quite slow by his standards.

The Kiwi bowlers sprayed the ball on both sides of the wicket. Add to that a dismal day in the outfield and the Kiwis had given India just the fillip they required before the World Cup.

When Sachin Tendulkar walked in at number four the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Thirteen balls later, with only a single to his name, Tendulkar poked at a Daryl Tuffey delivery outside off and was snapped up by the keeper.

Instead of understanding why Tendulkar was getting dismissed so meekly, commentator Ravi Shastri began to wonder at the prudence of sending him at number four. He argued that Tendulkar should be sent up the order so that he can bat for 50 overs. Just for the record, Tendulkar has, till date, batted all fifty overs just once and scored 186 -- his highest in ODIs.

The argument is quite baffling because Tendulkar is too gifted to be bottled up by field placement. He is the best batsman in the side, though Sehwag is carrying the 'exciting' label these days. Tendulkar has the genius to bat and dissect a spread field. At number four or even three he can hold the innings together and shift gears depending on the situation. With his experience and wealth of runs, Tendulkar is the man who understands the game better than most in the world do.

If he opens the innings in one-dayers, then logic dictates that he should open in Test also and solve our perennial opening problem. He has the technique and the wherewithal to bat up the order and dictate terms from the word go.

Ideally, Tendulkar should bat at number 3 or 4 while chasing and at the top when India bats first.

Sehwag has taken the opening slot for now. And even though a couple of failures opens up the debate questioning the wisdom of Sehwag opening the innings it is important to applaud the fact that Sehwag has scored four of his five one-day centuries outside India. Seventy-seven of his runs were scored through the off-side behind square as the Kiwis failed to bowl the right channels to peg him back.

His fifth hundred today confirmed the fact that he is a batsman who will always win India games by firing at the top of the innings. With strokes that were executed with unimaginable lucidity, he played an innings dipped in good fortune and had left with India just short of the finishing line, at 182-3.

The small journey to breast that tape was arduous and could make for a mini-series in itself. Six wickets fell for 16 runs as the Indian batsmen, with a series of ridiculous running between the wickets and extravagant shots, perished in a matter of twenty minutes.

Andre Adams bowled the final over, with India requiring four runs to win and three wickets in hand. Mohammad Kaif was bowled, trying to heave across the line and Zaheer Khan was run-out off a wide. India needed two runs in three balls with the last pair at the crease. Srinath ran a leg bye to level the scores and Nehra smacked Adams to the mid-wicket fence to complete a thrilling win.

Fleming's captaincy seemed rather rigid. He will want to recalibrate his plans about Chris Harris's role in the team soon. While Sehwag and Dravid were running away with the game at one stage, Fleming's decision not to bowl Harris was intriguing.

When he finally threw the ball to Harris towards the fag end of the innings, the bowler venomously turned the match around with his tight three-over spell.

Another thing Ganguly will need to be aware of during the World Cup is the slow bowling rate that almost cost India the match today. Ducked one over for bowling slowly, India had to wait till the last over to score the runs for victory.