Sachin sparkles as Team India round off preparation

Chennai, Sep 9 (UNI) It 'rained' fours and sixes at the M A Chidambaram stadium here as the Malaysian-bound Indian team rounded of their preparation with the Juniors beating the seniors by three wickets in the second practice match here today.

Indian Juniors romped home with four balls to spare, as the main batsmen once again 'showed their hunger' for runs on a Batsmen-friendly wicket which proved to be a nightmare for the bowlers.

Leading the way was master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar who struck a strokeful century (101) to help the Seniors pile up an imposing 339 for two in 45 overs. He hit 26 runs in one over of Dinesh Mongia, hitting three sixers and two fours.

The sequence read 6,6,-,4,4,6 as Sachin showed no signs of discomfiture and proved that he had recovered fully from the shoulder surgery that kept him out of action for the past few months.

Rahul Dravid, who opened with Sachin retired after hitting a meaty 44 and Virender Sehwag, batting at number three, once again disappointed scoring just 22 runs with two fours.

However, Mohd Kaif (70) and Mahendra SINGH Dhoni (88) continued their fine run with the bat to help the Seniors to a big total.

In Reply, the Indian Juniors scrambled home with four balls to spare, scoring 345 for seven with Harbhajan Singh, leading the side home with a six and four off consecutive balls off Sehwag to fashion an impressive win.

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