Yuvraj's all-round display powers India to victory By S.S. Ramaswamy

Indore, Nov 17 (PTI) Yuvraj Singh clobbered his second
successive century and then scalped four key wickets as India
maintained their stranglehold over England by thrashing the
visitors by 54 runs in the second cricket one-dayer here
Monday.

The Indians rode on Yuvraj's scintillating 118 to post a
competitive 292 for nine and then bundled out England for 238
in 47 overs to take a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series.

The 26-year-old Yuvraj, who recovered from a back injury
just in time to be drafted into the team, came out with a
stunning all-round display to play the pivotal role in India's
victory on a rather slow track at the Maharani Usharaje Trust
ground.

Yuvraj, who had blasted an unbeaten 138 off just 78 balls
in the first one-dayer in Rajkot to mark his return to form,
not only notched up his tenth century but also helped the
hosts recover from an early slump which saw them tottering at
29 for three at one stage.

He then proved his ability as a left-arm spinner by
returning dream figures of 10-0-28-4 which included the prized
scalps of Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen and Owais Shah.

The Punjab swashbuckler stitched 134 runs for the fourth
wicket with the in-form Gautam Gambhir (70) while the lanky
Yousuf Pathan provided the late sparks to the innings with an
savage unbeaten 50 off just 29 balls.

The England innings never really got the momentum to
overhaul India's target with none of the batsmen really
getting a big knock to keep them in the hunt. Owais Shah (58),
Andrew Flintoff (43), Matt Prior (38) and Kevin Pietersen (33)
got the starts but could not hang around long enough.

The two teams will now travel to Kanpur for the third
game to be played at the Green Park stadium on Thursday.

England's innings began on a disastrous note with opener
Ian Bell being run out in the very first over, thanks to a
brilliant piece of fielding by Suresh Raina whose direct hit
at the non-striker's end gave India the first wicket.

Matt Prior and Owais Shah then steadied the innings to
some extent with a 96-run partnership for the second wicket.
The two batsmen were quite content in keeping the scoreboard
ticking with pushes and nudges while hitting the occasional
boundary.

The introduction of the spinners from the 16th over
onwards chocked the runs for the visitors, resulting in the
asking rate climbing beyond eight runs per over.

The tourists lost the wickets of Shah (58) and Prior (38)
in the span of three overs to tilt the scale in India's favour
at the stage.

Yuvraj accounted for both the wickets, first trapping
Shah leg before wicket and then bowled Prior with a ball that
turned a bit.

England opted to take the batting powerplay from the 32nd
over and suddenly the runs started coming briskly with captain
Kevin Pietersen and the dangerous Andrew Flintoff belting 59
runs in those five overs.

Just when England showed signs of coming back into the
match with some lusty hits, Yuvraj came to the rescue for the
hosts by getting rid of Flintoff and Pietersen in the same
over to change the complexion of the game.

With the visitors reduced to 185 for five after 38 overs
following Yuvraj's dramatic over, the Indians had the game
under control and it was only a matter of bowling tightly in
the slog overs with the asking rate having climbed steeply.

Earlier, it was Yuvraj who stole the thunder for the
second time on the trot. He struck two sixes and 15 fours and
also cobbled a crucial century stand with Gambhir, who
slammed his second successive half century in the series when
making 70 off 76 balls.

Towards the end birthday boy Yusuf Pathan, who failed at
Rajkot,hammered an unbeaten 50 in only 29 balls by clobbering
four sixes, including two in the last over bowled by Steve
Harmison, and two fours to finish the innings on a high note.

The hosts lost the wickets of opener Virender Sehwag (1),
Suresh Raina (4) and Rohit Sharma (3) in quick succession with
Stuart Broad doing all the damage early in the morning.

While Gambhir continued to show his good form since the
series against Australia, Yuvraj had to play differently,
mostly with nudges and tickles, from what he had done at
Rajkot where he carted the bowlers with impunity.

The Punjab batsman adapted well to the slower pace of the
wicket here and still scored at a fast pace, completing his
century in only 107 balls with the help of two sixes and 12
fours.

He finally fell to Broad, in the 44th over when trying to
drive the England pacer during the batting side's Power Play
taken between the 43rd to 47th over with the score reading
239.
India lost Sehwag, who gave the innings a rollicking
start in the first One Day International ODI on Friday, early
when he dragged Broad on to his stumps while attempting a
drive in the second over of the match.

Raina was the next to go when he tried to flick at
Broad, bowling with a packed off-side field with two fielders
at short cover and extra cover, and the ball stopped a bit for
it to balloon towards short square leg and Samit Patel dived
in front to catch it.

India, struggling at 15 for two, slid deeper into the
mire when Sharma, who found it difficult to middle the ball,
mistimed a hook shot off Broad and top-edged for Owais Shah to
take an easy catch at short mid-wicket to leave the hosts at
29 for three.

However, Yuvraj and Gambhir adopted judicious stroke-play
on a wicket that did not play as true as the one at Rajkot
did. In fact the rate picked up significantly only after the
arrival of Yuvraj at the crease.

England lacked a quality spin bowler to exploit the
roughs at both ends with Samit Patel not good enough to do so
and gave away 21 runs in his first three overs in two spells.

Broad, taken to the cleaners at Rajkot where he conceded
74 runs, bowled a brilliant first spell, keeping the ball on
the off side of the wicket and also bowling a much fuller
length with the short ball used as a shock weapon.

His first spell of 5-1-14-3 put the home team on the back
foot with the result that as compared to the 5.5 rate they
maintained at Rajkot, they could do only just over four here
in the initial stages.

After Yuvraj's departure, Pathan, who completed his
half-century off the last ball, joined the remaining batsmen
to add 53 runs with the Power Play opted for by India yielding
37 runs.

Broad was easily the pick of the English attack with four
for 55, but Collingwood and Pietersen too did the good work in
their spells to take a wicket apiece. PTI SSR