Sachin, Dhoni blitzkrieg knocks daylights out of Greens

Chennai, Oct 2 (UNI) Sachin Tendulkar's hunger for runs continued as the master blaster lit up the M A Chidambaram Stadium with a boundary filled 139 to guide India Blues to an imposing 381 for six against India Greens in the second match of the Challenger Series for the N K P Salve Trophy here today.

Sachin's fireworks looked like advance Deepavali celebrations for the fans Chennai. He strucked 20 fours and four sixers in his 100-ball knock, which was dotted with two useful partnerships with Irfan Pathan (54, 53 balls, 4x4, 3x6) and skipper Rahul Dravid (62, 63 balls, 2x4, 3x6).

Later, M S Dhoni (79 not out, 59 balls, 6x4, 4x6), Yuvraj Singh (19, 14 balls, 1x6, 1x4) and Ajit Agarkar (17 not out, 6 balls, 2x4, 1x6) joined the run feast as the Men in Blue plundered 109 runs in the last ten overs with the last five yielding 61 runs.

In an innings reminiscent of Sachin's glorious days, the world's highest ODI run getter pummelled the pedestrian Green attack to score his second hundred ever since he made a come back after the shoulder injury.

He made a come back with a fine century in the DLF Cup against West Indies and top scored yesterday with a breezy 61 in a losing cause against the India Reds.

Either caressing the ball through the covers or punching it past point or smoting the bowlers in the arc between the midwicket and long on, it was an innings full of poise and grace as Sachin cut, drove, pulled and even reverse-swept with absolute ease.

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