HYDERABAD, NOV 8: Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid turned the festival of lights into festival of run-riot in the second Pepsi One-Day International (ODI) at the Lal Bahadur Stadium today. Records lay in a heap as India walloped New Zealand by 174 runs to level the five-match series 1-1.Tendulkar won an important toss and took first strike to help India post their highest ODI total. Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 186 (221m, 151b, 19x4, 4x6) and in the process surpassed Saurav Ganguly's previous ODI highest of 183 by an Indian batsman.Dravid also recorded his ODI best of 153 (196m, 153b, 15x4, 2x6) and with Tendulkar added 331 for the second wicket the best for any wicket in the history of ODIs.Tendulkar was in a murderous mood in the last 10 overs. Medium-pacer Drumm, who replaced the injured Dion Nash, was the worst sufferer. In the 49th over, Tendulkar ran up a sequence of 6, 4, 4, 4. He was on 182 when Chris Cairns began the last over of the innings, but Tendulkar could manage only four runs.Dravid set the tone of the Indian innings by scoring three fours off Cairns in the fifth over. The elegant batsman judged the wicket well and majestically powered his way to glory.Skipper Stephen Fleming remained a helpless spectator as were his bowlers. Cairns went for 73 runs, O'Connor conceded 61, Drumm was plundered for 85 and newcomer Styris gave away 58 runs.Under pressure of reaching the mammoth target at 7.54 runs per over, New Zealand not repeat their Rajkot batting effort.Venkatesh Prasad got rid of Craig Spearman while Javagal Srinath dismissed Nathan Astle to snuff out any Kiwis challenge. It was only the last wicket pair which delayed the inevitable.Team means more than records: Speaking at the post-match conference, Indian skipper Tendulkar said he was happy with the win. ``Our bowlers did a good job.'' Saying that he was happy with his batting performance, he also had a word of praise for Dravid. ``He played some improvised shots that helped us score at a brisk pace.''When asked about his personal achievement of surpassing Ganguly's 183, he said he became aware of it only when Ajay (Jadeja) mentioned it in the 49th over. ``I was only worried about the team's total. Records are there to be broken. Even my record may be shattered tomorrow by someone,'' he said philosophically.New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming was all grace in defeat. While giving credit to the hosts for their wonderful performance, he was hopeful of doing well in the remaining three matches. ``The series is only half way through. It is still wide open,'' he said. He was all praise for Tendulkar and Dravid who, he said, set exemplary batsmanship. Regarding the replacement for Nash, he said ``Alex Taite will be joining the team for the third one-dayer''.When asked about his opinion about the outfield, he humourously said, ``For most of the time we were fielding in the pickets so the outfield did not bother us." He added, "We bowled badly in the slog overs, and the hot weather compounded our problems.''ScoreboardIndiaSaurav Ganguly run out (O'Connor) (11m, 4b) 4Sachin Tendulkar not out (221m, 151b, 19x4, 4x6) 186Rahul Dravid c Fleming b Cairns (196m, 153b, 15x4, 2x6) 153Ajay Jadeja not out (10m, 4b) 2Extras (b5, lb18, w3, nb15) 31Total (for 2 wickets, in 50 overs) 376Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Ganguly, 1.5), 2-341 (Dravid, 48)Bowling: Cairns 10-0-73-1, O'Connor 7-0-61-0, Drumm 9-0-85-0, Styris 10-0-58-0, Harris 3-0-27-0, Astle 3-0-20-0, Vettori 8-0-39-0New ZealandC Spearman c Tendulkar b Prasad (18m, 16b, 2x4) 15Nathan Astle c Jadeja b Srinath (25m, 11b) 9A Parore st MSK Prasad b Bharadwaj (73m, 38b, 3x4, 1x6) 39Roger Twose lbw Chopra (35m, 34b, 4x4) 28Stephen Fleming c Srinath b Kumble(24m, 18b, 2x4) 12Chris Cairns run out (Bharadwaj) (27m, 15b, 3x4) 13Chris Harris c Chopra b Kumble (4m, 3b) 2S Styris c MSK Prasad b V Prasad (58m, 52b, 6x4) 43Daniel Vettori run out (Srinath) (9m, 8b) 5Shane O'Connor run out (Srinath) (7m, 6b) 1Chris Drumm not out (38m, 20b) 7Extras (lb 8, w 12, nb 8) 28Total (all out in 33.1 overs) 202Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Spearman, 3.3), 2-37 (Astle, 4.3), 3-67 (9.1, Twose), 4-101 (Fleming, 14.3), 5-120 (Parore 17.5), 6-127 (Harris 18.5), 7-140 (Cairns, 20.4), 8-152 (Vettori, 23), 9-156 (O'Connor, 25.1)Bowling: Srinath 6-0-37-1, Prasad 5.1-0-38-2, Chopra 7-0-38-1, Kumble 10-0-39-2, Bharadwaj 4-0-27-1, Ganguly 1-0-15-0Result: Indian won by 174 runsMan of the match: Sachin TendulkarThe Indian Bull RunMilestones from the second India-NZ ODI at HyderabadWORLD-RECORD PARTNERSHIP: The 331-run second wicket partnership between skipper Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid is the highest ever by any country for any wicket in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). The partnership erased the previous ODI World record of 318 for any wicket between Saurav Ganguly and Dravid against Sri Lanka at Taunton in the last World CupHIGHEST SCORE BY AN INDIAN: Tendulkar's 186 not out was the highest individual score by an Indian surpassing Ganguly's 183 against Sri Lanka at Taunton in the last World Cup. The Indian skipper's 24th ODI century improved upon his previous highest score of 143 against Australia at Sharjah in 1998FOURTH HIGHEST IN ODIs: Tendulkar's unbeaten 186 is the highest individual ODI score made by any player against New Zealand. It is also the fourth highest in ODI history behind Pakistan's Saeed Anwar (194 vs India at Chennai in 1997), West Indian Viv Richards (189 not out vs England at Manchester in 1984) and South African Gary Kirsten (188 not out vs United Arab Emirates at Rawalpindi in 1996)DRAVID's PERSONAL BEST: Dravid's 153 was his highest in ODIs. Playing his 105th match, Dravid scored his seventh ODI century. His 153 improved upon the 145 he hit against Sri Lanka in the last World Cup. It's the joint fourth best Indian score with Mohammed Azharuddin (153) in ODIs -behind Tendulkar (186 not out), Ganguly (183) and Kapil Dev 175 not outSECOND HIGHEST TOTAL in ODIs: India's 376-2 against New Zealand was the second highest innings score by any team in the history of ODIs. The World record is the 398-5 by Sri Lanka against Kenya at Kandy in the '96 World CupINDIA's HIGHEST IN ODIs: The Indian total today surpassed their previous highest in ODIs 373-6 against Sri Lanka in the World Cup league tie at Taunton in May earlier this yearHIGHEST TOTAL ON INDIAN SOIL: India's 376-2 was the highest total on Indian soil, surpassing the 349-9 made by New Zealand in the first match of the current series in Rajkot
