India win in rain
The strike power of Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina delivered India a 53-run win in a rain-marred opening one-day international against New Zealand here Tuesday.
It was the perfect response from India after they lost the two Twenty20 matches which opened their tour.
With the match first reduced to 38 overs each, under the Duckworth-Lewis system New Zealand were set an imposing target of 278 in reply to India's 273 for four.
They were already watching the run rate rise at an alarming pace when a second rain disruption revised the target to 216 from 28 overs, meaning New Zealand needed 105 from the remaining 7.1 overs.
They flayed away, but the game was already gone and at the close New Zealand were 162 for nine.
The damage was done at the start when opener Sehwag set the pace with a typically aggressive 77 and Dhoni provided stability through the innings with an unbeaten 84.
But when it became obvious the run rate would be crucial after the first two-hour rain break, Raina blazed away for 66 off 39 balls to put India in a secure position.
The pre-match hype had focused on Sachin Tendulkar's first appearance on tour, but his was a subdued performance by comparison.
He was removed in the 10th over for 20 when the big-hitting Sehwag had pushed the team score to 69.
The early dismissal of Tendulkar, caught behind by Brendon McCullum off Ian Butler, gave New Zealand their only bright moment in the game.
Sehwag and Dhoni upped the tempo and reached 121 in the 19th over, until Sehwag's punishing spell ended when he belted Vettori towards the boundary only to see Ross Taylor take a magnificent catch diving to his left.
Raina increased the pace further as he clubbed five boundaries and four sixes putting on 110 in 74 balls for the fourth wicket with Dhoni until he was caught by Iain O'Brien off part-time bowler Grant Elliot.
When New Zealand started their innings they never looked like reeling in the run rate.
They faced 11 dot balls before McCullum, the hero of the Twenty20s, was out for a duck and New Zealand were one down for none.
By the 16th over, New Zealand were 81 for three, the run rate was over nine, and Jesse Ryder and Taylor had joined McCullum back in the pavilion.
Martin Guptill put some backbone into the innings with 64 off 70 deliveries, the only New Zealand batsman to reach 50, but his dismissal sparked a dramatic collapse with four wickets falling in five balls.
Harbhajan Singh had Guptill caught by Gautam Gambhir and next ball Neil Broom was stumped by Dhoni.
Kyle Mills survived one ball, to deny Harbhajan the hattrick, before he was caught by Sehwag at slip and Ian Butler holed out in the deep to Zaheer Khan on the first ball of the next over.
At 132 for nine it was left to Vettori and O'Brien to bat out the remaining four overs.
The second match of the five-game series is in Wellington on Friday.
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