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 nine in the second One-Day International against England a Indore on Monday.
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.
Opener Gautam Gambhir 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. Gambhir and Yuvraj 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 chase was always going to be tough for the visitors and it started on a poor note as opener Ian Bell (1) was run out by a direct hit by Raina in the first over.
Owais Shah (38) and Matt Prior (58) then added 96 runs for the second wicket to get the innings back on the rails.
Pietersen and Flintoff then batted with greater urgency and purpose. Pietersen took the Power Play after the 32nd over and that allowed Flintoff the licence to run amock by smashing Harbhajan for three sixes.
Pietersen followed suit by hitting the off-spinner for another six and the third Power Play produced 59 runs, bringing the equation to 110 off 13 overs.
Man-of-the-match Yuvraj Singh was on a song. He not only continued his brilliant run with the bat by scoring his second successive century but he also came up trumps with the ball, claiming four wickets, as India beat England by 54 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the seven-match One-Day Hero Honda Cup.
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