Virat Kohli inspires India to victory over New Zealand

Virat Kohli struck his third limited overs century as India secured a 40-run victory over New Zealand in the first one-day international in Guhawati.

Kohli scored 105 in 104 balls, ably assisted by Yuvraj Singh (42), as India were dismissed for 276, with Andy McKay taking 4-62 for the tourists.
New Zealand's innings began slowly but Ross Taylor injected impetus with 66.
But his team-mates could not provide sufficient support as India took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
India's victory margin would have been wider had Nathan McCullum (35) and Kyle Mills (32) not staged an ninth-wicket rally.
Mills joined McCullum at the wicket with the score at 169-8 as the pair mounted an entertaining 71-run ninth-wicket stand before both men were dismissed in successive deliveries in the 46th over as India wrapped up victory.
The hosts, led by stand-in skipper Gautam Gambhir, gave wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, in for the rested Mahendra Singh Dhoni, his one-day debut, as they were put into bat by New Zealand, temporarily captained by Taylor.
Gambhir (38) and Murali Vijay (29) wasted good starts but Kohli, batting at three, took control of the middle orders to notch his second successive one-day century following on from his 118 against Australia at Visakhapatnam last month.
"It feels good. I had a kind of a lean patch in Sri Lanka recently, the team-mates and coach backed me. I would like to thank them," said the 22-year-old.
"I try to probably stop myself if I feel like playing a big shot and enjoy the singles."

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India record its best-ever medal haul in Asian Games

Guangzhou:  India created history by recording their best-ever performance in Asian Games with 64 medals, including a record 14 gold, with star boxer Vijender Singh providing the icing on the cake by bringing the last yellow metal on the penultimate day on Friday.

The men's and women's kabaddi teams expectedly maintained their supremacy by clinching the gold before the women's 4x400m quartet and Vijender (75kg) bagged a yellow metal each on the most productive day for India in the mega-event.

With the addition of 11 more medals today, India's tally climbed to a record 14 gold, 17 silver and 33 bronze (total 64), the biggest ever haul in the Asian Games so far, to jump to the sixth place.

India's best medal haul till date was recorded in the 1982 Games in Delhi when they had won 13 gold, 19 silver and 25 bronze for an overall tally of 57. India had finished 10 in the last edition of the Games in Doha with a tally of 10-17-26.

India have now completed their engagements in the Games and their final standing will depend after the completion of the six events -- men's and women's marathon, men's and women's doubles sepaktakraw finals and women's volleyball final -- tomorrow.

China leads the medal table with 197 gold, 117 silver and 98 bronze (total 412), followed by South Korea (74-63-91) and Japan (47-73-94) at second and third respectively.

While the kabaddi teams did not sweat much to keep their reputation intact in rather lopsided finals, Vijender made amends for his bronze-finish in Commonwealth Games with a gold here while compatriots Santosh Kumar (64) and Manpreet Singh (91kg) settled for a silver each.

The women's 4x400m relay team also lived up to the expectations as they defended the gold they won in the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

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