BANGALORE: Sachin Tendulkar smashed a record fifth World Cup century with a breath-taking display of strokeplay as India rattled up an imposing 338 all out in their group-B league match against England on Sunday.
Scorecard
The 37-year-old Tendulkar (120) slammed his fifth World Cup century, the highest by any cricketer in the megaevent, to provide the sparks in a scintillating Indian batting display at the jam-packed Chinnaswamy stadium.
Apart from Tendulkar's 47th ODI century, Gautam Gambhir (51), Yuvraj Singh (58) and Virender Sehwag (35) were the other notable scorers as the Indians virtually tore the English batting attack to shreds to leave the visitors with a stiff asking rate of 6.78. It was India's highest World Cup total against England.
Pacer Tim Bresnan was the pick of the England bowlers with 5/48 but none of the other bowlers could make much of an impression.
It was vintage stuff by Tendulkar as he unleashed 10 boundaries and five sixes in his 115-ball 120 to lay the platform for the Indian onslaught.
Tendulkar's milestone moment came in the 35th over when he glanced Tin Bresnan to the boundary to record his fifth World Cup century, surpassing former India captain Sourav Ganguly, current Australia captain Ricky Ponting and his former teammate Mark Waugh who had four hundreds to their credit.
Electing to bat first, the Indian innings began on a tentative note but the runs started flowing once the batsmen came to terms with the pace and bounce of the Chinnaswamy track.
Opener Virender Sehwag had a reprieve in the very first ball of the innings as Graeme Swann dropped a difficult chance in the second slip off James Anderson.
The dashing opener tried to push Anderson's outgoing delivery and got a thick edge but Swann could not latch on to the sharp chance.
Sehwag had two more close shaves in an eventful first over as he struggled to time the ball well. But he began to look a little more comfortable against paceman Ajmal Shahzad as he spanked him to the boundary in his first ball.
Sehwag attacked Anderson by smashing him to the point boundary while Tendulkar also tried to force the pace of scoring by going for his strokes.
Although the ball was not coming on to the bat quickly enough in the initial stages, Sehwag played with customary flourish and picked up Anderson for special treatment by clobbering him for 11 runs in one over.
But his belligerence was shortlived as he perished in the very next over with pacer Tim Bresnan accounting for his scalp in his very first over.
Bresnan provided some width and Sehwag tried to steer the ball through the vacant slips but only succeeded in edging the ball to wicket-keeper Matt Prior. His whirlwind knock of 35 came off 26 balls and contained six boundaries.
With Sehwag's departure, Tendulkar took upon himself the responsibility of scoring briskly as he hammered Anderson for two consecutive boundaries.
The left-handed Gautam Gambhir, who joined the action after Sehwag's fall, also made his intentions clear as he used his feet to smash spinner Graeme Swann to the boundary in his first over. But in that same over, Gambhir was lucky to survive a stumping chance.
Tendulkar brought about India's 100 on the board in style by lifting Paul Collingwood for a huge six over long off. He notched up his 94th ODI half century with another six, Collingwood being the bowler again.
With the two Indian batsmen going great guns, England captain Andrew Straus brought back his main spinner Swann into the attack and Tendulkar greeted him with two consecutive sixes much to the delight of the capacity crowd.
Tendulkar lifted Swann's first ball for a six over wide long-on with intense power and then clobbered the next ball over mid wicket.
While Tendulkar went on the offensive, Gambhir fetched his 22nd ODI half century with a streaky boundary to the third man region.
But Gambhir (51) perished in the very next over being bowled by Swann as he lazily tried to steer a turning ball towards third man only to see his stumps being knocked down, bringing an end to the rollicking 134-run partnership.
Tendulkar then created history by becoming the first cricketer to score five centuries in the World Cup when he glanced Bresnan to the fine leg boundary.
After completing the milestone, Tendulkar unleashed a flurry of strokes and again picked up Swann for special treatment by clobbering him for a mighty six over long-on.
It was Anderson who brought an end to Tendulkar's rampaging knock as the champion batsman played his shot a touch too early and Michael Yardy took the catch at cover. His scintillating 115-ball 120 contained 10 boundaries and five sixes.
Yuvraj notched up his 46th ODI half century by hitting Anderson to the boundary as he combined with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to maintain the run flow.
Yuvraj and Dhoni returned to the pavilion in quick succession as they tried to force the pace of scoring in the slog overs.
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