Yuvi’s 4-wicket haul helps India pip England

Earlier, Yuvraj Singh, declared fit to play after recovering from his sore back, struck his second successive century to rescue India from a shaky start and steer the hosts to an imposing total of 292 for the loss of nine wickets.
    
The left-handed batsman, whose blazing 138 not out in the series opener at Rajkot on Friday floored England — they lost by a huge 158 runs — had to play in a slightly different manner to the previous effort and still came out trumps while making 118.
    
Yuvraj struck two sixes and 15 fours and also cobbled a crucial century stand with in-form opener Gautam Gambhir, who slammed his second successive half century in the series when making 70 in 76 balls with six fours and a six, to rally the home team from a dismal 29 for three to 163.
    
Yuvraj, who recovered from his back problem that he suffered in the series opener during his match-winning effort, and Gambhir pulled India out of the rut with a stand of 134 in 126 balls after team skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat.
    
Towards the end 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), all to the bowling of Stuart Broad, before the fourth wicket duo of Yuvraj and Gambhir steadied the ship. The duo came together when India lost their first three wickets within the first eight overs.

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, who smote six sixes and 16 fours in his 78-ball blitzkrieg at Rajkot, 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. This was another superb effort from the player, who was ignored for the four-Test series against Australia.
    
India lost Sehwag, who gave the innings a rollicking start in the first ODI on Friday with Gambhir, early when he dragged Broad on to his stumps while attempting a drive in the second over of the match. Raina (4) 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.
    
Yuvraj got into the groove right away by turning Flintoff off his pads for a four and then pulling him with a mighty heave over mid-wicket when the bowler pitched short the next ball.
    
Yuvraj, who timed the ball beautifully in the series opener, had to bide his time here and he did this well. He had to nudge and tickle the ball for the most part but punished the loose ones mercilessly. Troubled by Paul Collingwood’s medium-paced bowling a bit, he lofted the bowler over long off for his second six just before the 100 of the innings was raised in the 21st over.
    
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 in which he sent back Sehwag, Raina and Sharma truly 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. 

Yuvraj, who had hit Broad for six sixes in an over at the World T20 Championship one year ago, continued his domination by clouting the bowler for a pulled six and a four in the same over to prompt Pietersen to take him off immediately. Broad took his revenge much later by dismissing Yuvraj.
    
Pietersen, who used himself as the seventh bowler with off breaks, broke the fourth-wicket partnership in his very first over when Gambhir stepped out to slam him for a six over long off. The batsman was bowled off the inside edge when trying to turn the lanky player.
    
Yuvraj and Dhoni (15) then glued together a stand of 43 in 56 balls, and it was terminated by Collingwood just before the last 10 overs were to begin. He bowled the Indian captain when Dhoni tried to steer the bowler.
    
Yuvraj was joined by Pathan and the duo delayed taking the Power Play till the end of the 42nd over when the score read 223 for five. With the field up, Yuvraj struck Flintoff for two fours in the 43rd over.
    
After Yuvraj’s departure, Pathan, who completed his half-century off the last ball, joined the remaining batsmen to add 53 runs with the five-over 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. The biggest disappointment was James Anderson, wicket-less, and Harmison, who once again looked unimpressive while finishing with tail-ender RP Singh’s wicket before conceding 17 runs in the innings’ last over.