Yuvraj propels India to victory in 2nd one-dayer

Yuvraj Singh plundered England’s attack for his second successive century and then took four wickets to lead India to a 54-run victory Monday in the second limited-overs international.

Overcoming serious back pain to play in the match, Yuvraj scored 118 from 122 deliveries to help lift India to 292 for nine in 50 overs despite a top-order slump.

He then claimed 4-28 with his left-arm spin as England was bundled out for 238 in 47 overs, giving India a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series.

England’s batsmen faltered against part-time spinners Yuvraj and Virender Sehwag (3-28) who made the ball bite off a helpful track.

After shaping as a close contest with the tourists at 183-3 after 37 overs, England’s middle-order collapsed to lose four wickets for eight runs.

Yuvraj dismissed four of the five top-order batsmen, removing Andrew Flintoff (43) and skipper Kevin Pietersen (33) in his 10th over that took the fight out of England.

India won the series opener Friday by 158 runs in Rajkot, its biggest victory by runs against England. In that match, Yuvraj’s blazing an unbeaten 138 from 78 deliveries spurred India to an imposing 387-5 - its highest total on home soil and the best score against England.

Continuing from where he left off in Rajkot, Yuvraj struck two sixes and 15 fours at Indore to post his 10th ODI hundred in 219 matches. He shared an innings-reviving partnership of 124 runs with Gautam Gambhir (70) to rescue India from a poor start.

Batting first after skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss, India’s top order was rocked by pace bowler Stuart Broad’s three-wicket burst.

Broad (4-55) removed opener Sehwag (1), Suresh Raina (4) and Rohit Sharma (3) in quick succession to reduce the hosts to 29-3 before Yuvraj and opener Gambhir combined.

Broad got an inside edge off Sehwag’s bat that rattled his stumps and Raina’s innings lasted just nine deliveries before he mistimed an onside shot to Samit Patel at square-leg.

Yuvraj, who was man of the match for consecutive games, said scoring was difficult.

“It wasn’t an easy wicket, I had to work hard for my runs,” Yuvraj said. “At 29 for three, I thought I need to go out there and spend some time in assessing the wicket. Talking to Gambhir in the initial stages helped me a lot.” Dropped from India’s test squad after losing form on the tour to Sri Lanka, Yuvraj said he had been working hard on his batting.

“There were a few things that I needed to control initially when I start my innings,” he said.

Dhoni praised Yuvraj and Gambhir for their innings.

“Yuvraj and Gautam gave a great performance for the second game in a row,” Dhoni said.

Pietersen echoed Dhoni’s praise for Yuvraj.

“Yuvraj has played a fantastic game again today, the boy’s playing good cricket,” Pietersen said. “At 29 for three, we definitely had a chance but we lost our momentum in the middle.

“We need to carry on from the good start like the one we got here. One top-order batsman needs to make a big score.” Gambhir scored his second consecutive half-century against England, hitting one six and six boundaries in his 76-ball knock before he played a ball from Pietersen onto his stumps.

The next match is Thursday at Kanpur.