Zeecric Bureau
Indore, Nov 17: Yuvraj Singh gave another account of his growing fondness for the English team with a fantastic all-round effort that proved instrumental in India recording a facile 54 run victory over their opponents, and race away to a 2-0 lead in the Hero Honda cup, with 5 matches to spare.
Yuvraj proved to be England’s nemesis yet again, backing his 78 ball 138, scored on Friday, with a more sublime, polished and a graceful 118 run knock of 122 balls that propelled India to a healthy 292 runs in their 50 overs. Not content to rest on his laurels with the bat, Yuvraj proved to be visitor’s wrecker-in-chief with the ball as well, snaring 4 top order wickets- that of Matt Prior, Owais Shah and the dangerous duo of Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen. He ended with dream figures of 4/28 off 10 overs, proving to be the difference between the two sides.
Not surprisingly, he was awarded the Man of the Match award for his super human efforts.
Earlier, the day started on an auspicious note for India as the news confirming in-form southpaw Yuvraj Singh trickled in.
However, after MS Dhoni had won the toss elected to bat first, the hosts soon found themselves in a spot of bother as Stuart Broad made inroads into the Indian batting line-up. Broad removed Virender Sehwag (1), Suresh Raina (4) and Rohit Sharma (3) cheaply to leave India reeling at 29/3 in the 8th over.
Cometh the hour…cometh the man! In walked Yuvraj Singh, and in company of a rapidly improving Gautam Gambhir led India’s revival as the duo put on 134 runs for the fourth wicket. Just as Gambhir was looking set for a well deserved century, captain Kevin Pietersen got the desired breakthrough for his team, foxing the Delhi dynamo with guile of a tossed up delivery, which he ended up in being dragging to the stumps. He scored a crisp 70 off just 76 balls with 6 fours and a six.
Undeterred, Yuvraj continued in his ominous vein, proving his weight worth in gold with a second consecutive ton, his 10th ODI hundred overall. With exquisite strokes all over the park, Yuvi had the packed Indore stadium enthralled, until he finally fell to Broad in the 44th over, in a bid to amass quick runs. His 118 run knock was laced with 15 sweetly timed hits to fence, besides two mighty sixes.
The final push to the Indian innings was provided by birthday boy Yusuf Pathan, who fittingly repaid his captain’s faith with a murderous unbeaten 50 runs off just 29 balls.
Broad emerged as the pick of the English bowlers with figures of 4/55 from 10 overs.
Chasing a target of 293 runs for a series-leveling victory, England made a stuttering start when Ian Bell fell victim to Suresh Raina’s direct hit from covers for just 1.
Unlike in Rajkot where the England top order fell way side, a 96 run partnership for the second wicket between Shah (58) and Prior (38) kept England in the hunt despite the early loss.
However, the situation was cue for Yuvraj to get into the act once again. With wickets of Prior and Shah in quick succession, Yuvraj wrested the initiative back from England. And when Flintoff (43) and Pietersen (33) seemed to be stabilising England’s innings, Yuvraj’s golden arm spelled their doom to make it GAME, SET and MATCH for India.
Broad and Samit Patel did try to wage a battle but Sehwag, with 3 wickets, cleaned up England's tail to seal yet another comprehensive victory for India.
The teams will now meet in Kanpur on Novermber 20 for the third ODI.
zee
First Published: Monday, November 17, 2008, 00:00