COLOMBO: Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni batted sensibly to guide India to the tri-series final with an emphatic six-wicket victory over New Zealand here today.

Raina and skipper Dhoni added 72 crucial runs for the fifth wicket as India recovered from 84-4 to surpass New Zealand’s modest total of 155 with 9.3 overs to spare. Raina smashed two sixes and three fours in his unbeaten 45, while Dhoni hit four boundaries in 35 not not. India and Sri Lanka have made it to the final after winning their opening matches.

Bowlers set up India’s victory when they restricted New Zealand to a small total, with seamer Ashish Nehra and spinner Yuvraj Singh grabbing three wickets apiece. Pacemen Ishant Sharma and Rudra Pratap Singh each took two wickets.

Sachin Tendulkar (46) and Rahul Dravid then built on their bowlers’ efforts, putting on 60 for the second wicket after the fall of opener Dinesh Karthik (four) in the third over of the innings. Dravid contributed 14 before being trapped leg-before by paceman Jacom Oram.

Tendulkar fell in the next over when he gave a simple catch to Martin Guptill in the covers off left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori. Vettori put pressure on India when he had Yuvraj caught by Guptill but Dhoni and Raina steered their team home.

Man-of-the-match Nehra rocked the top order when

he trapped Jesse Ryder leg-before wicket with the

third delivery and then dismissed Brendon McCullum in a similar fashion in his next over for his 100th wicket in one-dayers. Yuvraj dismissed Grant Elliott (22) and Guptill (22) before accounting for Neil Broom (21).