COLOMBO // The seamer Ashish Nehra and the spinner Yuvraj Singh grabbed three wickets each as India bowled out New Zealand for a paltry 155 runs in the second tri-series match. After New Zealand elected to bat first winning the toss, Nehra provided India a good start by dismissing both the Black Caps openers by the time their total reached four. He trapped Jesse Ryder (0) and Brendon McCullum (three) lbw and returned to dismiss the tail-ender Ian Butler and end the New Zealand innings.
Yuvraj capitalised on the momentum provided by Nehra to run through the middle-order. He had Martin Guptill (22) caught by Rahul Dravid at slip, Grant Elliot (22) caught behind by they captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Neil Broom (21) caught by Suresh Raina. Nehra finished with 3-24 while Yuvraj returned 3-31. RP Singh and Ishant Sharma collected two wickets each. New Zealand's struggled on the slow pitch at R Premadasa Stadium, resulting in a dearth of partnerships despite a few batsmen taking good starts.
The skipper Daniel Vettori's 25 off 36 balls was the top-score for the Black Caps. New Zealand which lost the series opener earlier this week to Sri Lanka must win this match to retain a chance of getting into the final on Monday. Sri Lanka leads the table with five points. * AP