A career-best 150 from Yuvraj Singh and a 10th ODI century from former skipper MS Dhoni took India to 381 for 6 in the Cuttack ODI. England, who had to win the match to stay alive in the series, lost the hard-fought match.
England after winning the toss had elected to bowl, they had begun grandly with three wickets in five overs- including Virat Kohli for 8- but struggled to make further inroads and were reliant on their batting strength to pull them back up. As captain Eoin Morgan played a knock of 102 runs in 82 balls but unfortunately got runout in the 49th over.
England though had a quick wicket fall when Alex Hales was dismissed at 14 of 12 balls, but Jason Roy and Joe Root took the charge and played thoroughly. Joe Root scored 54 off 55 and Jason Roy scored 82 off 73 balls but their efforts fell short after England lost these two wickets in 19.5 and 26.1 over respectively.
Owing to superb batting display by Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni and some fine display of bowling, India thrashed visitors by 15 runs in the second ODI against England at Cuttack.
With this win, India clinched the three match series 2-0.
(Photo: BCCI)
Earlier, after being sent in to bat, India were once again off to a poor start with the opening duo of Lokesh Rahul (5) and Shikhar Dhawan (11) perishing cheaply.
England, however, paid the price for failing to seize the advantage after dismissing India skipper Virat Kohli (8) for a rare single-digit score as Yuvraj and Dhoni made light work of their bowling line-up.
Batsmen Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni were at their vintage best here on Thursday powering India to 381/6 in their second One-day International (ODI) cricket match against England.
Yuvraj, who returned to the national side on the back of some prolific scores for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy, looked in ominous touch as he went on to amass his career-best score of 150 runs in only 127 deliveries, comprising 21 fours and three huge sixes at the Barabati Stadium here.
With this blistering knock, the southpaw also surpassed Sachin Tendulkar (1,455) to become India’s highest run-getter against England with 1,463 runs.
(Photo: BCCI)
Yuvraj’s century on Thursday was a throwback to the 2008 series against England where he scored back-to-back hundreds in Rajkot and Indore in big wins for India.
Returning to the side after a three-year hiatus, the 35-year-old left-hander consumed 98 ball to bring up his career’s 14th ODI ton and also eclipsed his own record of 138 to become the highest run-getter at this ground. He also became the first Indian player to score a 150 against England in ODIs.
Coming in to bat with India reeling at 25/3, the southpaw took his time in the middle before forging a 100-run stand with the former India skipper off 118 balls.
The right-left combo continued to hammer the English bowlers all over the park as Dhoni also got to his 10th ODI ton off 106 balls.
Yuvraj, who by now had added 256 runs for the fourth wicket with Dhoni, perished after an attempted drive resulted in a thickish edge to England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler to hand Chris Woakes his fourth wicket of the match.
Meanwhile, Dhoni, who relinquished the limited overs captaincy ahead of the series commencement, showed glimpses of his vintage self, when he went after the English pacers at will even after Yuvraj’s departure.
(Photo: BCCI)
After surviving a dropped chance even before reaching his 50 off 68 balls, Dhoni kept on frustrating the English bowlers, bludgeoning six massive sixes and 10 fours before falling to pacer Liam Plunkett in the 48th over of the innings.
The fall of wickets of Dhoni and Yuvraj, however, did not stop incoming Kedar Jadhav (22 off 10 balls), Hardik Pandya (19 not out off 9) and Ravindra Jadeja (16 not out off 8) to play their stokes and push the total to a massive 381/6.
In reply, England managed to score only 366/8. The showstopper of the day, Yuvraj Singh, bagged the Man of the Match award for his hilarious knock of 150 runs out of 127 which is his career best as well.
