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Rediff.com  » Cricket » Raina, Dhoni power India to 374

Raina, Dhoni power India to 374

Source: PTI
June 25, 2008 20:02 IST
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- Scorecard

Suresh Raina notched his maiden one-day century and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni his fourth as India sent minnows Hong Kong on a leather hunt, scoring a massive 374 for four in their Group B match of the Asia Cup in Karachi on Wednesday.

Raina spearheaded the batting blitz with a scintillating 109-run knock and teamed with Dhoni (unbeaten 109) to put on 166 from 123 balls, which saw India set the highest total in Asia Cup history.

The 21-year old left-hander was in spectacular form, reaching his first fifty from exactly 50 balls and then stepped up the tempo to race to his century from only 16 balls, hitting five sixes and three fours in this period.

Raina was extremely harsh on pacer Skhawat Ali, who went for three sixes in one over.

Raina fell two balls after smashing pacer Afzaal Haider for a six to reach his hundred and was caught at mid-wicket.

Dhoni touched the three-figure mark after consuming 96 balls and helped himself to six sixes and five fours to anchor the innings.

India, with their strong performance, also warmed up in spectacular fashion for Thursday's important clash against traditional rivals Pakistan.

The Hong Kong spinners, who did an admirable job against Pakistan in their first match, never recovered from an early blitz from openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.

The duo put on 127 for the first wicket and plundered runs at will, scoring 95 in the first 10 overs.

The two openers brought up the fifty in under six overs and put on a smashing 100 from 65 balls before Sehwag went for a blistering 78 from 44 balls with 13 fours and two big sixes.

He fell to left arm spinner Najeeb Amar, who also dismissed Gambhir after the Delhi player had made a quick 51 from 54 balls.

Rohit Sharma was needlessly run out for 11 runs missing out on a great batting practice opportunity. But Dhoni and Raina were unstoppable.

Nadeem Ahmed, who took four wickets against Pakistan, went wicketless.

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