Date-stamped : 12 Feb95 - 14:33 NewZealand - India ODI 4 Dec 17, 1988, Baroda. "Azharuddin knocks the daylight out of Kiwis" - R.Mohan There was a ray of light at the end of the pitch dark tunnel for New Zealand which was, however pushed back into the cavern by one of limited overs cricket`s extraordinary innings. Mohammed Azharuddin had the gait and the mien of a conquering batsman to turn around the result possible for a largely experimental Indian side which was being fast submerged in a trial situation. Azhar in a 62 ball century knocked the daylights out of the Kiwi attack and in the company of the inform Ajay Sharma made it 4-0 for India in the Charminar Challenge series. Mark Greatbatch had played a thorough and powerful innings of entertainment to give his bowlers the backing they have not had on tour. His explosive unbeaten 84 powered New Zealand to a series high of 278 after Wright and Jones got on top of an In- dian attack in ideal conditions. Though many leading bowlers were missing in the attack, some measure of brilliance was called for to make such a total possible. Azhar`s astonishing brilliance put Greatbatch`s in the shade. His belief in his own ability having been restored, Azhar is a different kind of performer today. He can strike the ball as hard as any of those with a greater reputation for one-day cricket. When he is willing to play the strokes they come from a fount of innovativeness -- wristy elegance and a governing intelli- gence. There are not many sides which would have lost from the posi- tion that New Zealand did today. The tourists make a bad one-day side. Even that does not detract from the merits of the sixth wicket stand of 127 in which Azhar and Ajay Sharma made the runs at over nine per over. Ajay played the ideal foil while Azhar opened his shoulder to let the ball have the full face and power of the bat. He lofted the ball freely which only shows that where there is a will there is a way. This is only Azharuddin`s second century in one-day inter- nationals but the innings marred only by one difficult chance to Rutherford running in from deep extra cover is easily his best. He is showing total appreciation of what is expected from a frontline batsman in overs-specific cricket. While Ajay Sharma kept pulling the ball from almost anywhere to make the most of Sneddon`s employment of a field in which there was no sweeper on the mid wicket fence, Azhar lifted the ball clear of the infield with that wristy wave of the bat. Admirable batting: Azhar`s level of concentration and the flow of his batting had to be admired in a setting of such distractions. He made the fastest recorded one-day century beating Javed Mianded`s century of 69 balls against India at lahore in 1982-83. He made it despite the fact that spectators kept trotting up to the middle to celebrate every fine shot of his. Stones were also being thrown at the New Zealand deep fielders and there were de- lays while order was restored. It is not often that a number six batsman makes a hundred in one-day cricket. Until Azhar came in it seemed India was suc- cumbing to the trial situation and the asking rate of 5.58. San- jay Manjrekar batted competently to make his maiden half century with his on-side orientation which passed muster on a flat pitch. But neither he nor Pundit who strove to score more briskly could really put the bowlers in their place even in such splendid bat- ting conditions. Chandrasekhar had miscued a shot early and Raman who had backed up too far on Pandit`s push into Bracewell at short cover was run out by a direct throw. Pandit himself missed a wild pull across the line to Sneddon. Vengsarkar was struggling to make his pres- ence felt and when he heeved at Kuggeleijn to miss and be bowled, India`s position was quite hopeless. Manjrekar mishit a pull to mid off and his 68 ball effort (two fours) was the another event if it was not fully adequate from the team point of view. The competitive Bracewell was bowling a line and Azhar launched the onslaught with a offdriven six and several steps forward for an ondriven four. One could almost hear the trumpets blow as Azhar and Ajay charged like men possessed. Azhar`s touch at the paddle shot to discourage bowlers from attempting to bowl wide of his legs and his ability to take anything on the stumps to hit very straight or into the on-side were the factors behind the change in the complexion of the contest. There were 17 to be had in the 38th over and 14 in the 39th and the runs came in a torrent. The 100 of the stand came exactly in 63 balls. Ajay Sharma made his second successive 50 of 36 balls with five fours before mispulling Morrison. Sanjeev Sharma sa- crificed his wicket when Azhar charged down for a run -- Chetan Sharma was caught behind when India was on the threshold but nothing was going to stop Azharuddin (10 fours and 3 sixes off 65 balls) today. Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)