2nd ODI : 2nd Century for Yuvraj, 2nd loss for England -> Itsonlycricket, is only cricket!

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2nd ODI : 2nd Century for Yuvraj, 2nd loss for England

Filed under Eng in Ind 2009 IndvEng Indore

How do you recover from 3 for 29 in 7.3 overs? send in a batsman who scored century in his last Innings!

Yuvraj Singh, yesterday at Indore in 2nd One day International against England, became only the 5th Indian batsman to score back to back century after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid & VVS Laxman.

It was a dusty pitch at Maharani Usharaje Stadium and, "240 would have been defend-able" said India Vice Captain Virendra Sehwag in post match press conference.. India had set a target of 292, thanks to bligrent Yuvraj Singh (118 off 122 balls with 15 4s & 2 6s) & wild strength of Yusuf Pathan who scored 50 off just 29 balls with 4 huge sixes.

And then, 292 looked chase-able while Matt Prior & Owasis Shah built up a healthy partnership of 96 runs for the 2nd wicket. With batting powerplay still in hand - England, for the first time in this Hero Honda 7 ODI series, looked confident & fighting. both Prior & Shah got out inside 16 deliveries to push England back again. Few promises were made by Captain Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff who hit Harbhajan Singh for 3 sixes in the 33rd over bowled by the offspinner - but all in vain.

Indian team looked in control, fielded exceptionally well & bowled in right areas to pick up wickets at regular intervals from where, England could never really recover.

Some notes to note
**Gautam Gambhir is the leading run scorer in ODI cricket in year 2008.. he completed 1065 runs this year today.. and so did India Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni with 1009 runs in 2008 so far. next 3 batsman scoring most runs this year are Younis Khan with 865 runs, Salman Butt with 861 runs and Yuvraj Singh with 824 runs.
**Ian Bell came in as runner for Matt Prior in 23rd over.. in 24th over - Owasis Shah started cramps in legs and there was a chance of England opting for 2 runners at a time.. Thankfully, Shah was bowled by Yuvraj Singh the very next ball & normality continued.
**Listening to England commentators has always been a treat, and I would like to echo David Lloyd's thoughts that Indian spectators don't clap for good opposition shots or fielding. There's always a pin drop silence whenever an Indian wicket falls.. no one claps for what a good ball that opposition bowler bowled!