Indian bowler Yuvraj Singh (right) and Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (left) react after Yuvraj dismissed England captain Kevin Pietersen (centre) during their second one-day international cricket match in Indore, India, yesterday. Yuvraj Singh hammered England's attack for his second successive century and then returned to snare four wickets that propelled India to a 54-run victory in the second limited-overs international. - AP

INDORE, India (AP)

Yuvraj Singh plundered England's attack for his second successive century and then took four wickets to lead India to a 54-run victory yesterday in the second limited-overs international.

Overcoming serious back pain to play in the match, Yuvraj scored 118 from 122 deliveries to help lift India to 292 for nine in 50 overs despite a top-order slump.

He then claimed 4-28 with his left-arm spin as England were bundled out for 238 in 47 overs, giving India a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series.

England's batsmen faltered against part-time spinners Yuvraj and Virender Sehwag (3-28) who made the ball bite off a helpful track.

After shaping as a close contest with the tourists at 183-3 after 37 overs, England's middle-order collapsed to lose four wickets for eight runs.

Yuvraj dismissed four of the five top-order batsmen, removing Andrew Flintoff (43) and skipper Kevin Pietersen (33) in his 10th over that took the fight out of England.

India won the series opener last Friday by 158 runs in Rajkot, its biggest victory by runs against England. In that match, Yuvraj's blazing an unbeaten 138 from 78 deliveries spurred India to an imposing 387-5 -its highest total on home soil and the best score against England.

Continuing from where he left off in Rajkot, Yuvraj struck two sixes and 15 fours at Indore to post his 10th ODI hundred in 219 matches.

He shared an innings-reviving partnership of 124 runs with Gautam Gambhir (70) to rescue India from a poor start.

Pace bowler

Batting first after skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss, India's top order was rocked by pace bowler Stuart Broad's three-wicket burst.

Broad (4-55) removed opener Sehwag (1), Suresh Raina (4) and Rohit Sharma (3) in quick succession to reduce the hosts to 29-3 before Yuvraj and opener Gambhir combined.

Broad got an inside edge off Sehwag's bat that rattled his stumps and Raina's innings lasted just nine deliveries before he mistimed an onside shot to Samit Patel at square-leg.

Yuvraj, who was man of the match for consecutive games, said scoring was difficult.

"It wasn't an easy wicket, I had to work hard for my runs," Yuvraj said. "At 29 for three, I thought I need to go out there and spend some time in assessing the wicket. Talking to Gambhir in the initial stages helped me a lot."

Dropped from India's Test squad after losing form on the tour to Sri Lanka, Yuvraj said he had been working hard on his batting.

"There were a few things that I needed to control initially when I start my innings," he said.

Gambhir scored his second consecutive half-century against England, hitting one six and six boundaries in his 76-ball knock before he played a ball from Pietersen onto his stumps.

Dhoni made just 15 before Paul Collingwood (1-43) dislodged his stumps, then Broad returned for his second spell to have Yuvraj caught behind attempting an ambitious offside shot.

Allrounder Yusuf Pathan lifted the late scoring with an unbeaten 50 from 29 deliveries. He hit four sixes, included two off paceman Steve Harmison in the final over.

The next match is Thursday at Kanpur.