Sehwag leads India to world record 257-run crushing of Bermuda

Port of Spain, Mar 20 (UNI) Riding on Virender Sehwag's blazing 87-ball 114 and his 202-run second wicket partnership with Sourav Ganguly, India crushed Bermuda by world record 257 runs in their second Group'B' match of the cricket World Cup at the Queen's Park Oval here.

On a day which saw many a new landmarks, India, put in to bat, first piled up World Cup record total of 413 for five and then bowled out debutants Bermuda for 156 in 43.1 overs to create another record of highest victory margin in the history of one-day Internationals. Sehwag was declared man of the match.

India thus not only erased the 11-year-old World Cup highest total record of 398 for five set by Sri Lanka against Kenya at Kandy in the 1996 World Cup, they also sank Australia's largest victory margin mark of 256 runs against Namibia set in the 2003 edition of the showpiece event in South Africa.

Chasing an improbable target of 414 runs for victory, Bermuda were never in contention but nontheless had the satisfaction of scoring their highest World Cup total as they were bundled out for 78 in their last match against Sri Lanka.

Their top scorer David Hemp remained unbeaten at 76 (105 balls, 9 fours and a six), while Dean Minors chipped in 21 runs (36 balls, 3 fours and a six).

The Bermudians defied the Indian bowling for over 43 overs and at one staged looked like denying India the credit of recording the biggest ever win in the one-day international history.

For India, Agarkar and Anil Kumble took three wickets each conceding 38 runs each. Zaheer Khan (2 for 32), Munaf Patel (1/20), Sachin tendulkar (1/1) were the other wicket takers.

MORE UNI