KARACHI, June 25: It rained sixes and fours at the National Stadium on Wednesday when Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina struck scintillating centuries as India slaughtered Hong Kong by 256 runs in a record-breaking Asia Cup Group ‘B’ match.

Skipper Dhoni blasted an undefeated 109 off 96 balls and Raina bludgeoned a breathtaking 68-ball 101 as India posted an Asian Cup record total of 375 for four in an innings that featured 33 fours and as many as 14 sixes – a total of 216 runs in boundaries.

The rampant Indian batsmen virtually went berserk in the last 10 overs that yielded 129 runs.

Hong Kong, in reply, offered token resistance and folded up meekly for 118 in 36.5 overs to leave India celebrating the largest victory in the tournament history, usurping Pakistan’s 233-run win against Bangladesh in year 2000.

Piyush Chawla led the rout of the hapless Hong Kong batsmen who crumbled under pressure as the young leg-spinner returned career-best four for 32.

But the story of the match was the dominant Indian batting and who had the satisfaction of compiling the best-ever ODI score at this venue, surpassing the 360-4 made by the West Indies in the 1987 World Cup against Sri Lanka.

Dhoni and Raina massacred the innocuous Hong Kong bowlers as for the second day running a new partnership record was established in the Asia Cup. The pair merrily added 166 off just 123 balls to eclipse the previous highest fourth-wicket mark of 139 set by Sri Lanka’s Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga against Bangladesh at Kolkata in the 1990 tournament.

Raina, who beat his captain to the three-figure mark, scored the second quickest One-day International century for India, needing only 66 deliveries to get to the three-figure mark. The 21-year-old left-hander raced to his maiden limited-overs cricket hundred with a blink of an eye, taking just 16 deliveries for his second fifty after reaching the first at run-a-ball.

Raina, named Man-of-the-Match, lashed five sixes including three in one over from Sakhawat Ali that went for 23 runs, besides seven boundaries.

On the other hand Dhoni, who lived up to his promise of promoting himself in the order, changed gears at will after calmly reaching the 50-run mark in 64 balls. He brought up his first one-day century as skipper – and his fourth in 110 matches — in just 90 balls. The 26-year-old right-hander adorned his superb knock with six sixes and as many fours.

It was a sheer contrast to Tuesday’s opening Group ‘B’ fixture as Hong Kong failed to make any impression on the Indians. Nadeem Ahmed, who troubled Pakistan so much the other day, was not allowed to settle into any line or length.The platform for this intimidating onslaught was laid by a rollicking 87-ball opening partnership of 127 between Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, who was twice let off by courteous Hong Kong fielders.

Undeterred by such mishaps, Sehwag batted in his customary carefree manner, belting 13 fours and brace of sixes in reaching 78 off 44 balls. Gambhir, by comparison, was more circumspect and took 54 deliveries to score 51 that included seven hits to the fence.

The only ‘setback’ for India was the failure of Rohit Sharma who struggled for 29 balls before a direct throw sent him back for 11.

Despite the beating, slow left-armer Najeeb Amar held his head high with very respectable analysis of two for 40 in his 10 overs for Hong Kong.

Scoreboard

INDIA:

G. Gambhir c Lamsam b Najeeb 51

V. Sehwag c Irfan b Najeeb 78

R.L. Sharma run out 11

M.S. Dhoni not out 109

S.K. Raina c Irfan b Afzaal 101

R.V. Uthappa not out 15

EXTRAS (B-6, LB-1, W-2) 9

TOTAL (for four wkts, 50 overs) 374

FALL OF WKTS: 1-127, 2-136, 3-159, 4-325.

DID NOT BAT: Yusuf Pathan, P. Kumar, Piyush Chawla, R.P. Singh, M. Gony.

BOWLING: Afzaal Haider 6-0-72-1; Irfan Ahmed 6-0-53-0 (1w); Roy Lamsam 2-0-27-0; Nadeem Ahmed 8-0-52-0; Najeeb Amar 10-0-40-2; Munir Dar 10-0-55-0; Sakhawat Ali 8-0-68-0 (1w).

HONG KONG:

Tabarak Dar st Dhoni b Chawla 21

Sakhawat Ali lbw b R.P. Singh 0

J.J. Atkinson c and b Yusuf Pathan 23

Hussain Butt st Dhoni b Chawla 4

C.K. Kruger st Dhoni b Chawla 3

Irfan Ahmed run out 25

J.P.R. Lamsam run out 16

Munir Dar c Yusuf Pathan b Chawla 4

Najeeb Amar not out 13

Afzaal Haider b Sehwag 0

Nadeem Ahmed c Dhoni b Sehwag 0

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-9) 9

TOTAL (all out, 36.5 overs) 118

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-49, 3-54, 4-54, 5-67, 6-91, 7-99, 8-109, 9-118.

BOWLING: Kumar 5-0-21-0 (5w); R.P. Singh 4-0-19-1; Gony 5-1-11-0 (1w); Chawla 10-2-23-4; Yusuf Pathan 10-0-37-1 (1w); Sehwag 2.5-0-5-2.

RESULT: India won by 256 runs.

UMPIRES: A.L. Hill (New Zealand) and B.G. Jerling (South Africa).

TV UMPIRE: M.G. Silva (Sri Lanka).

MATCH REFEREE: A.G. Hurst (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Suresh Raina.