All-round Yuvraj reigns supreme again
Posted on Nov 17, 2008 at 09:16 | Updated Nov 17, 2008 at 23:50
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Indore: 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 on 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 27-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 stadium.
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.
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Posted By punabiassassin
COZ....SINGH IS KINNG....
First Harbhajan Singh thrashed Australia with his bowling and excellent batting, Now Yuvraj has done it
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Posted By louismaxim
Long back I wrote on IBNLive.com, that Yuvraj Should have been the Captain of Indian Team, that was when Dhoni
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