Dhoni, Raina power India to 2nd best victory
Posted on Jun 25, 2008 at 15:09 | Updated Jun 26, 2008 at 16:39
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Tags: cricket, Asia Cup, India
Karachi: Even before the start of the match the result was known to one and all. And when both Suresh Raina and India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored centuries to pile up 374–4 against a hapless Hong Kong, the tame battle was just waiting to get over and the job was successfully finished sooner than later by Piyush Chawla, who claimed 4-23 to give India a 256-run victory against the minnows in their Asia Cup tie here on Wednesday.
It was Virender Sehwag who laid a solid platform in the beginning and from there Raina and Dhoni continued the good work to score their respective centuries as well.
A 127-run stand between the openers - Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir -- and then another huge fourth-wicket partnership of 166 between Dhoni and Raina left Hong Kong looking for cover.
Hong Kong were never in the contention chasing a huge target, and predictably they kept on losing wickets one after another, expect for a brief 45-run second wicket stand between captain Tabarak Dar (21) and James Atkinson (23).
Indian bowlers tighten the nozzle as the game progressed with spinner Chawla stealing the show with his superb bowling spell (10-2-23-4).
Meanwhile, Hong Kong batsman - Irfan Ahmed (25), Roy Lamsan (16) toiled hard in the middle to reduce the margin of defeat but finally their innings folded for 118 in 36.5 overs to give India the second biggest margin of victory in ODIs.
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