2nd ODI: India beat England by 54 runs

Buoyed by first One-Day International win, India continued its fabulous form in the second ODI as well by leaving England 54 runs short of the victory and leading the series 2-0.

India part-timers had put England in trouble that included Virender Sehwag clinching last three wickets of the day in the form of tailenders Samit Patel(20), Steve Harminson(6) and Stuart Broad (22).

Earlier, Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh added on to the England's woes by removing Paul Collingwood in the 2nd ODI.On the other end, part-time bolwer Yuvraj Singh proved out to be dangerous as he clinched the crucial wickets of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff(43) and Kevin Pietersen(33).

The stylish all-rounder dismissed Owais Shah and Matt Prior in his successive overs.Chasing 293 runs to win, Owais Shah slammed 7th ODI fifty, his maiden against India, before he fell as Yuvraj's first victim.

Yuvi pitched it on the off-stump and Shah was hit on his pads in the line of middle and leg. The Punjab all-rounder tossed one on the off-stump. It turned sharply and took an inside edge of Prior's bat before hitting the stumps. Prior made 38 and added 96 runs with Shah for the second wicket.England lost Ian Bell in the first over as Suresh Raina caught him napping between the wickets.

Bell punched one from Zaheer Khan towards mid-off and ran for a single. Raina quickly collected the ball and dived to aim the stumps at the non-striker's end. Earlier, Yuvraj, the Rajkot demolisher, continued with his sublime form and slammed his consecutive ton of the series to take India's score to 292 runs at the loss of nine wickets against England in Indore.

After the his flamboyant show in Rajkot, Yuvraj was more composed and showed a lot of character as the pitch was not exactly a batting paradise. But his romance with the English attack continued as slammed 10th ODI hundred, his 3rd against the opponents with the help of fifteen 4s and two 6s. In the process, he also completed 1000 ODI runs against England.

Yuvraj joined Gambhir after Rohit Sharma's dismissal when India had just 29 runs on the board. He combined with the opener to steer India out of trouble. The two southpaws added more than 134 runs for the fourth wicket.

Gambhir slammed 13th fifty, his 3rd against England and completed 1000 ODI runs in this calendar year. England skipper Kevin Pietersen struck with his off-spin and broke the partnership between the two as he dismissed Gambhir for 70 runs.After Gambhir, MS Dhoni joined Yuvraj in the middle and added 43 runs for the fifth wicket.

Soon after Yuvi completed his century, Dhoni perished for 15 runs. Paul Collingwood dismissed Dhoni with his off-cutter as the Indian tried to cut that to the third man but the ball came in and knocked off the bails.

Yuvraj soon followed his captain as Stuart Broad got him caught behind. Broad pitched on outside the off-stump and Yuvraj played it with a horizontal bat, only to see the ball kissing his bat before landing in Matt Prior's gloves.

After Yuvraj's dismissal, Yusuf Pathan took it forward. He got his maiden ODI fifty as his birthday gift. Yusuf made a quickfire50 off 29 balls. He hammered Steve Harmison in the 50th over and scored 17 runs off it.

He hit two 4s and four 6s in his innings.Earlier, Broad's early morning spurt left India breathless. Indian skipper Dhoni won the toss but Sehwag failed to capitalize on it and was dismissed in the second over for just 1 run. Broad pitched it on the off stump. The ball didn't bounce as expected and took an inside edge of the bat before crashing into the stumps. In his next over, Broad foxed Raina with an off-cutter. He pitched it on the middle and leg.

Raina (4) chipped it towards the square leg with a closed bat and Samit Patel took it easily. Comeback man Rohit Sharma was his next victim. Broad surprised him with a short delivery. Sharma (3) tried to hook it put the ball took the top edge of his bat and Owais Shah took a simple catch at backward square leg.

ECB-IPL talks end in stalemate

Uncertainty remained over the participation of England players in next year's Indian Premier League with the talks between England and Wales Cricket Board and IPL here ended in a stalemate on the main issue of reciprocal release of players.

ECB president David Collier and chief executive Giles Clarke had a meeting here with IPL officials including its chairman Lalit Modi, but they failed to work out a solution that would make way for the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff play in India.

The two sides met in the hope of hammering out a reciprocal agreement with the ECB agreeing to release England players for the second season of the IPL, which is due to be staged between April 10 and May 29, in return for Indian players being made available for the 2010 English Premier League.

Though there was no official announcement from either the IPL or the ECB, but sources said the talks ended in a stalemate though the two parties have agreed to meet again to pursue the matter in the next couple of weeks."The talks were constructive but the discussions have broken up without any agreement being reached.

The two parties have agreed to meet again soon in India for further negotiations," an IPL source said.Modi had been saying that while he would welcome England players in IPL they will have to play a substantial number of matches otherwise no franchise would be willing to buy them.

Among other topics discussed at the meeting were the future of Champions Twenty 20 League and whether English teams could feature in it after Kent were barred from entry because they fielded players from unsanctioned Indian Cricket League.
Anbu.

Yuvi's fitness only concern for confident India

With their confidence on a high after the landslide win in the opening ODI, in-form batsman Yuvraj Singh's back injury is India's only concern as they prepare to take on a battered England in the second one-dayer of the seven-match cricket series on Monday.

After drubbing the visitors by a massive 158 runs, the Indians are hoping that Yuvraj, who pummelled the English attack with an unbeaten 138, would be fit to take the field on Monday.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni says a final call on the attacking left-hander, who required a runner for most part of his innings in the Rajkot ODI, would taken just before the match.Pace spearhead Ishant Sharma, meanwhile, is all but out of the match after Dhoni admitted that his ankle sprain needs more time to heal.

England, on the other hand, have to battle low morale after the pasting they received at the hands of the marauding Yuvraj. Skipper Kevin Pietersen says his team would bounce back and come hard at India in the second clash.

But that looks easier said than done against an in-form Indian line-up, which did not show any sign of missing a stalwart in Sachin Tendulkar, who has been rested for the first three matches.It was Tendulkar's masterly batting that enabled India to tame Australia in the latter's lair in the triangular ODI series Down Under at the beginning of the year and his absence was surprisingly not even felt at Rajkot's Madhavrao Scindia ground.

The array of stroke-players that India possess in the batting line-up, starting with the potent opening combine of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir followed by Suresh Raina, Yuvraj, Rohit Sharma and Dhoni, must be causing not only envy but also awe among among the visiting team.

The Indian new ball bowlers Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel in particular extracted life even in the afternoon on what was a perfect belter in Rajkot while their England counterparts --led by the redoubtable Andrew Flintoff -- looked quite innocuous and failed to take advantage of whatever juice it possessed in the morning.

Pietersen's decision to ask India to take first strike must have been prompted by the array of pace bowlers at his disposal, but to his chagrin all of them were taken to the cleaners by the Indian batsmen.It is unlikely the South Africa-born batsman, who top-scored in England's reply with a confident and attractive 63 before he was run out, will repeat the same mistake henceforth."It's definitely disappointing to lose.

But there are six games left in the series and we intend to bounce back and hit India hard on Monday. We would give them a good run for the money", the England captain said after his team's humiliating defeat in the first ODI.

However, to achieve this he said the team has to improve in all aspects of the game.India, on the other hand, could not have asked for a better start to the seven-match series that concludes on December 2 at the Ferozshah Kotla ground in Delhi.

The mandatory new ball after 34 overs and the new Power Play rule, taken by India from 34th to 38th overs, also is a big advantage for big hitters.At the end of the 34th over, India were 216 for two giving a run-rate of 6.35 and the team added 171 runs in the last 16 overs at a whopping 10.6 per over, a clear indicator of the difference these two rules made to the overall picture.

Yusuf Pathan, who lasted just two balls after the electric start provided by the openers, could give way for left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha if the think tank feels that more variety is required in the spin department which had three off-spinners to fall back on at Rajkot.

England, meanwhile, are grappling with their problems of how to forge a potent bowling attack to take advantage of the wicket and weather conditions here.Samit Patel, who was set upon by Sehwag and Gambhir as soon as he was introduced to bowl, took two wickets but conceded 78 runs. With Monty Panesar not a part of the ODI fold, visitors' spin options are limited.

They are also missing the swing bowling of Ryan Sidebottom, who could have caused some problems with his movement as the other four -- Flintoff, Steve Harmison, James Anderson and Stuart Broad -- rely on pace and bounce more than movement in the air to get wickets.

Sidebottom has not played since suffering a heel injury during the Stanford Super Series of matches in the West Indies and even if passed fit, it is difficult to see him getting in without bowling extensively at the nets after having had such a long break.

The odds, thus, seem to be in India's favour ahead of the second ODI, but the home team needs to guard against complacency more than anything else.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Virendra Sehwag (Vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, R P Singh, Munaf Patel, Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay.

England: Kevin Pieternsen (Captain), Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Alastair Cook, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Andy Flintoff, Samit Patel Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison, Luke Wright and Ryan Sidebottom.