Yuvraj Singh hit a sizzling century as India dented England's morale furtherwith a convincing 49-run victory in the third cricket one-dayer at Margao, Goa,a result which left them needing just one win to clinch the series.
After setting a stiff target of 295 built around Yuvraj's breathtaking 76-ball103, Irfan Pathan grabbed three top order batsmen in quick succession to triggeran early collapse before the visitors folded up for 245 in 48.5 overs to giveIndia a commanding 3-0 lead in the seven-match series.
Yuvraj, who had failed in the first two matches, teamed up with the new battinghero Suresh Raina (61) to put on 142 runs for the fifth wicket to bail the hostsout of a slump on a difficult track at the Nehru Stadium.
Captain Rahul Dravid, who opened the innings after the struggling Gautam Gambhirwas dropped from the team, scored 46 while Pathan (36) was the other notableperformer for the hosts who managed to rapidly accelerate their pace of scoringin the last ten overs.
It was a far more convincing batting performance by the Indians though therepeated failures of opener Virender Sehwag (15) is becoming a matter of seriousconcern.
The tourists never really recovered from Pathan's triple strike which reducedthem to 47 for 3 though Paul Collingwood scored a scintillating 84-ball 93 in alate fightback.
India will now look to secure an unassailable 4-0 lead when the two teams travelto Kochi for the fourth match on April 6.
Pathan ensured the efforts of the batsmen did not go waste, claiming threewickets in his first seven-over spell to reduce England, without the services ofthe in-form but indisposed Kevin Pietersen, to a tottering 47 for three by the11th over. The Baroda left-arm pacer came back later to pick up another wicketand finish with fine figures of four for 51.
Ramesh Powar, who picked a career-best 3 for 34 at Faridabad, once againimpressed with a stint of one for 45 in ten. He took the wicket of Englandcaptain Andrew Flintoff who was caught in the deep sweeping for 15.
Harbhajan Singh and Ajit Agarkar chipped in with two wickets each to underlineanother good bowling performance by the hosts.
Collingwood put on 105 runs for the seventh wicket with wicketkeeper GeraintJones, who made 32 before holing out in the deep off Pathan in the 43rd over, ina late fightback ny the visitors.
Opener Matt Prior's 37 was the only other significant contributor to the Englandinnings.
The only time the tourists were really in the match was when India were fourdown but Yuvraj and Raina snatched away the momentum in India's favour.
Yuvraj was declared man of the match for his splendid knock and for taking twocatches during the England run-chase.
India's comprehensive victory was their first in four matches at this touristvenue.
Today's victory was also India's seventh on the trot since the second ODI winagainst Pakistan at Rawalpindi on February 11. The hero for India was24-year-old Yuvraj. Coming off a slow-down in form after his hamstring injury inPakistan, he completely took the initiative away from England after the hostswere struggling at 131 for four in the 28th over, having opted to bat first.
Yuvraj's knock also bettered the earlier best at this venue, of 101 by VVSLaxman against Australia in the last match played here five years ago.
Raina, who made a match-winning 81 in the second ODI at Faridabad, followed upthat innings with another splendid effort of 61 in 68 balls and with the help of5 fours and a 6.
Their pyrotechnics, especially in the 45th over when 22 runs were plundered inone Sajid Mehmood over, helped the hosts set England a formidable asking rate of5.9 to win the match.
Yuvraj and Raina, who came together when India had lost three wickets in justover five overs while adding 26 runs, set about repairing the innings initiallybefore opening out in splendid style to cart the bowlers to all parts of theNehru Stadium.
It needed Flintoff to come back for his second spell and send back the twobatsmen in close succession towards the end of the innings but it was alreadytoo late in the day.
He first had Yuvraj caught at mid off before clean bowling Raina in successiveovers to finish with 3 for 55, the best figures for England.
Sehwag's departure in the 7th over brought together Dravid and Pathan promotedto number three for the first time in the series and the duo batted sensibly totake the score past the 100-mark in the 23rd over with a 78-run second wicketpartnership. The stand was broken by Collingwood who induced Dravid to drive andunder-edge it on to his stumps. The Indian skipper faced 59 balls and hit sixfours in his 46.
India then lost two wickets in close succession, those of Pathan and MohammadKaif (0) while adding only two runs.
Kaif flopped for the third time in the series. It was his second successive duckin the rubber after having made 4 in the first match at Delhi.
Chasing the formidable total, England sorely missed the presence of Pietersenwho pulled out of the game this morning due to an upset stomach.
Pathan struck three big blows to send back opener Andrew Strauss (7), IanBlackwell (9), promoted in the order, and Owais Shah (7) in his second, fourthand sixth overs and break the back of the England innings in his splendid firstspell of 7-0-25-3.
Strauss chased a wide ball and edged to keeper M S Dhoni, Blackwell lostpatience and his stumps while going for a wild leg-side heave and Shah sliced adrive to Yuvraj.
Prior, who looked good and seemed to have come to terms with the slowness of thepitch, and Flintoff defied the Indians briefly before a run out broke the standafter the duo had added 31 runs.
The England captain tapped Harbhajan Singh to point and called for a single towhich Prior responded but he failed to beat the throw from Munaf Patel to thewicket keeper.
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PTI
