Bangalore, Feb 27 : 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 here today.
The 37-year-old Tendulkar (120) slammed his fifth World Cup century, the highest by any cricketer in the mega event, 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 tom 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.
PTI
