What a series Yuvaraj is having! He scored his 10th ODI hundred and second continuous hundred--back-to-back, to give India a solid lead of 2-0 in the seven match ODI Series.
He won his second continuous man of the match also for his scintilating century, especially when the team needed it.
India, after put into bat by England, lost three quick wickets with just 29 runs on the board. Sehwag (1), Raina (4), and Rohit Sharma (3) returned to pavilion before the end of 8th over. Stuart Broad picked all the three wickets and gave a chance to Pietersen. The decision to put India bat first proved to be sucessful for England.
But Gambhir and Yuvaraj had different plans--sure even they don't know what it is. The beauty is that they played their natural game and did not succumb to the pressure.
They added 134 runs for the 4th wicket and helped India to move towards a respectable total. Gambhir scored 70 off 76 balls with 6 fours and a six. When he was looking good, a poor shot selection to tap the ball to leg side for a single cost his wicket. The ball pitched on off stump took the edge and hit the stumps.
Dhoni couldn't add more to the scoreboard this time and was bowled through a straight delivery by Collingwood for 15. But, this did not stop Yuvaraj from hitting hard on the other end. He reached his 100 in 107 balls with 12 fours and 2 sixes. He was caught behind off Broad for 118 off 122 balls.
Yusuf Pathan made a match on his birthday. He hit four sixes and 2 fours to score his maiden ODI fifty in the last ball of the innings. In the last over, he hit two sixes and a four to take India to a fighting total of 292. His 50 came in 29 balls and increased the scoring rate for India in the last 5 overs. Broad ended with 4 for 55 with a maiden in his 10-over spell.
England had a chance in hand. Bell was out in the first over due to poor decision in taking a single. He played it to short covers and went for a single. Raina picked and threw at bowlers end where TV replay found him well short of his crease.
Prior (38) and Shah (58) added 96 for the 2nd wicket but both of them well one after the other. Flintoff and Pietersen added 74 for the 4th wicket. Yuvaraj had Flintoff trapped leg before and Pietersen bowled to give India the winning signal. Both of them returning to pavilion in the same over was the turning point of England innings and they never came back in the game. Yuvaraj ended with 4 for 28 in his 10 overs. Sehwag picked 3 wickets. It proved to be spinning track as against England where Broad picked 4 wickets.
Scoreboard:
Match: 2nd ODI
Venue: Maharani Usharaje Trust Cricket Ground, Indore
Teams: India and England
Captains: MS Dhoni and Kevin Pietersen
Toss: England won the toss and decided to field
Match Result: India won by 54 runs
Series Result: India leading by 2-0
Man of the Match: Yuvaraj Singh (India)
India 292 for 9 in 50 overs (Gambhir 70, Sehwag 1, Raina 4, Rohit Sharma 3, Yuvaraj 118, MS Dhoni 15, Y Pathan 50 not out, Harbhajan Singh 8, Zaheer 1, RP Singh 4, Munaf Patel 0 not out, Extras--18 (b 3, lb 9, w 4, nb 2), Anderson 6-0-26-0, Broad 10-1-55-4, Flintoff 9-0-49-0, Harmison 7-1-50-1, Patel 5-0-37-0, Collingwood 8-0-43-1, Pietersen 5-0-20-1)
Fall of Wickets: 1-4 (Sehwag, 1.2 ov), 2-15 (Raina, 3.4 ov), 3-29 (Sharma, 7.3 ov), 4-163 (Gambhir, 29.6 ov), 5-206 (Dhoni, 38.6 ov), 6-239 (Yuvraj Singh, 43.4 ov), 7-258 (Harbhajan Singh, 46.3 ov), 8-261 (Khan, 47.5 ov), 9-274 (Singh, 49.1 ov)
England 238 all out in 47 overs (Bell 1, Prior 38, Shah 58, Pietersen 33, Flintoff 43, Collingwood 2, Patel 20, Bopara 3, Broad 22, Harmison 6, Anderson 1 not out, Extras--11 (lb 2, w 6, nb 3), Zaheer Khan 8-1-37-0, Munaf Patel 7-0-31-0, RP Singh 5-0-49-0, Yuvaraj Singh 10-0-28-4, Harbhajan Singh 10-0-45-1, Sehwag 5-0-28-3, Yousuf Pathan 2-0-18-1)
Fall of Wickets: 1-6 (Bell, 0.6 ov), 2-102 (Shah, 23.1 ov), 3-109 (Prior, 25.5 ov), 4-183 (Flintoff, 37.2 ov), 5-184 (Pietersen, 37.5 ov), 6-187 (Collingwood, 39.5 ov), 7-191 (Bopara, 41.1 ov), 8-222 (Patel, 44.4 ov), 9-233 (Harmison, 46.2 ov), 10-238 (Broad, 46.6 ov)
