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India mauls a hapless Hong Kong

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

Dhoni and Raina slam centuries

— Photo: AFP

WHAT A FEELING! Suresh Raina is all smiles after stroking his way to a blistering century, as fellow century-maker and skipper M.S. Dhoni watches, in the league match against Hong Kong.

Karachi: M.S. Dhoni’s delirious men cruised on fifth gear all through and registered a 256-run victory over a hapless Hong Kong in a Group ‘B’ match of the STAR Cricket Asia Cup tournament at the National Stadium here on Wednesday.

It was India’s second highest margin of victory after its 257-run victory over Bermuda in the 2007 World Cup. India posted 374 for four in 50 overs and bundled out Hong Kong for 118 in 36.5 overs.

Chawla bags four

Piyush Chawla bagged four wickets as the Hong Kong batsmen gave him the charge and connected air. The rot had earlier set in with R.P. Singh scalping Shkawat Ali in the second over.

J.J. Atkinson hung in for a while before spooning one back to Yusuf Pathan and the rest caved in with Hussain Butt’s three steps down-the-pitch stance smacking of false bravado. And fittingly Butt was stumped.

Earlier, the Hong Kong attack may have lacked bite and the difference between the teams may have been huge but credit cannot be denied to Suresh Raina on his maiden ODI hundred as the southpaw’s 101 along with skipper M.S. Dhoni’s unbeaten 109 helped India post a huge score that forced Hong Kong towards the tournament’s exit gate.

Hong Kong out

Hong Kong with two consecutive losses is out of the tournament. Raina walked in weighed down by the shadow of expectations and pressure. Ever since former coach Greg Chappell pointed out his precious talent and Wisden labelled him as one of the five exciting young players to watch out in the future, expectations hung around him in a stifling embrace.

Pressure also clung in the air as skipper Dhoni’s remarks about his inability to force the pace against Pakistan in the Kitply Cup final also did the rounds.

The 21-year old from Uttar Pradesh, however, made the evening his own as he capitalised on a floundering attack that was already softened by the earlier blows inflicted by the Indian openers. Virender Sehwag (78, 44b, 13x4, 2x6) and Gautam Gambhir (51, 54b, 7x4) put on 127 runs for the opening wicket in 14.3 overs after Dhoni opted to bat.

Raina (101, 68b, 7x4, 5x6) and Dhoni (109 not out, 96b, 6x4, 6x6) shored up the innings and added a sense of urgency after the scoreboard turned sluggish with the openers’ dismissals and Rohit Sharma’s run out.

Manpreet Gony made his India debut and Robin Uthappa made a comeback. Ishant Sharma and Yuvraj were rested.

SCOREBOARD

India: G. Gambhir c Lamsam b Najeeb 51, V. Sehwag c Irfan b Najeeb 78, Rohit (run out) 11, M.S. Dhoni (not out) 109, S. Raina c Irfan b Afzaal 101, R. Uthappa (not out) 15; Extras (b-6, lb-1, w-2): 9; Total (for four wkts. in 50 overs): 374.

Fall of wickets: 1-127, 2-136, 3-159, 4-325.

Hong Kong bowling: Afzaal 6-0-72-1, Irfan 6-0-53-0, Lamsam 2-0-27-0, Nadeem 8-0-52-0, Najeeb 10-0-40-2, Munir 10-0-55-0, Shkawat 8-0-68-0.

Hong Kong: Tabarak Dar st. Dhoni b Chawla 21, Shkawat lbw b R.P. Singh 0, J.J. Atkinson c & b Yusuf 23, Hussain Butt st. Dhoni b Chawla 4, C. Kruger st. Dhoni b Chawla 3, Irfan (run out) 25, Lamsam (run out) 16, Munir c Yusuf b Chawla 4, Najeeb (not out) 13, A. Haider b Sehwag 0, Nadeem c Dhoni b Sehwag 0; Extras (lb-2, w-7): 9; Total (in 36.5 overs): 118.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-49, 3-54, 4-54, 5-67, 6-91, 7-99, 8-109, 9-118.

India bowling: Praveen 5-0-21-0, R.P. Singh 4-0-19-1, Gony 5-1-11-0, Chawla 10-2-23-4, Yusuf 10-0-37-1, Sehwag 2.5-0-5-2.

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