By IANS,
Christchurch : Sachin Tendulkar smashed his 43rd one-day century as India piled up a mammoth 392 for four against New Zealand in the third ODI at the AMI Stadium here Sunday.
Indian batsmen, specially Tendulkar, who scored a classy 163 before being retired hurt, and Yuvraj Singh (87) took advantage of the short boundaries and spanked the New Zealand bowlers to all parts of the ground after New Zealand’s stand-in captain Brendon McCullum opted to field.
Tendulkar, during his 133-ball inning, hit five sixes and sixteen fours while Yuvraj changed the complexion of the game with his breezy 60-ball inning that was studded with six sixes and ten boundaries.
Tendulkar and Yuvraj shared a 138-run stand for the third wicket. The 35-year-old former captain also had a 135-run stand with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (68) to help India post their highest one day score against New Zealand.
It was also the highest one-day score by any side in New Zealand, surpassing the 350 for nine the home side scored against Australia in Hamilton in February 2007.
Suresh Raina smashed an unbeaten 38, which included five sixes, from 18 balls, in the last few overs to put up the huge total.
Virender Sehwag departed early after he was bowled by Mills for three, while Gautam Gambhir was caught by wicketkeeper Peter McGlashan off Ian Butler for 15.
But Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Dhoni made a mockery of the New Zealand bowling attack and punished them harshly with their brutal play. Tendulkar and Yuvraj racked up 69 runs in a batting power play from the 23rd to 27th overs.
Yuvraj was cruising towards a well deserved century but was well caught by McGlashan, who was standing up to medium-pacer Grant Elliott. McGlashan, playing his second ODI, missed an easy stumping chance to get rid of Dhoni off Jeetan Patel when the Indian captain was on five.
Elliott also dropped Tendulkar when the batsman was on 122. The batting maestro finally retired hurt after he pulled a stomach muscle.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori missed the game to attend the birth of his first child in Auckland.