India won the second tri-nation one-day international at the Lord's againstEngland by six wickets, spearheaded by all-rounder Yuvraj Singh who took threewickets and scored a powerful 64.
Yuvraj’s unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 131 from 128 balls with RahulDravid brought India back into the game after top batsman Sachin Tendulkar andDinesh Mongia had gone for just one run apiece.
Dravid scored the winning run off a no-ball with seven balls to spare,overhauling England’s total of 271-7 and sparking noisy celebrations among thelarge contingent of India supporters at Lord’s.
India captain Saurav Ganguly said: "The wicket was good and I thought weplayed sensibly. We lost a bit in the middle (while batting) after the 15 oversbut we came back well and won.
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"I thought we bowled pretty well too in the last 15 or 16 overs. Wepulled the game back a bit."
A sparkling 71 off 65 balls from young India batsman Virender Sehwag hadgiven his side a fine start to the chase, but the visitors lost three wickets innine runs off 31 balls, to put England back in the match.
England captain Nasser Hussain won the toss and chose to bat first on a goodwicket, two days after winning the first match of the series by 44 runs againstSri Lanka at Trent Bridge.
Sehwag, 23, who says he has modelled himself on master stroke playerTendulkar, peppered the ground with boundaries, with his captain Saurav Gangulyplaying a supporting role.
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The pair reached 50 in 50 balls and 100 in 88 as England bowlers, MatthewHoggard, James Kirtley, Andrew Flintoff and Ashley Giles were punished in turn.
Sehwag rashly flighted Giles to the mid-wicket boundary in the 18th over andwas magnificently caught by Marcus Trescothick diving to his right.
Two overs later England took back some control when Giles bowled Mongia andthey picked up Tendulkar’s prize wicket in the 23rd when Irani trapped him lbw.
James Kirtley took the catch of his life to dismiss Ganguly in the 28th overoff Giles, running round from third man to throw himself towards the ball andcatch it left-handed sliding along the grass. India were then 141-4.
England looked to have pinned the visitors down but Yuvraj and Dravid slowlybuilt back the innings as England missed three run-out chances. Dravid finished73 not out.
Earlier Trescothick, with a brisk 86, gave England a fine start but the homeside failed to cash in fully.
"I think we should have got over 300," said Hussain. "Webatted a little bit below par in those (final) overs and also they bowledextremely well at the death."
Tight bowling from Zahir Khan and Ajit Agarkar restricted England in thelatter overs after the first 100 had been posted in 103 balls and the secondafter 204.
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Trescothick was finally caught behind off a slower ball from Ganguly afterfellow-opener Nick Knight had been run out for 31 in the 14th over when the pairembarked on a risky second run to backward square off Anil Kumble.
Andrew Flintoff, who scored England’s fastest ever one-day 50 in hisinnings at Trent Bridge, drove in the air and was caught by Mongia diving atextra cover off Yuvraj in the 35th over. His 22 came in 20 balls with threefours.
Three overs later left-hander Graham Thorpe was caught by Sehwag at shortthird man off Yuvraj and in the 40th over Hussain misjudged a sweep and wasstumped by Dravid off the same bowler. The captain was out for 54 and his sidehad tumbled to 222-5 from 200-2.
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India, cheered by their vocal following, pinned Alec Stewart and Ronnie Iraniback until Irani was run out for 12 by Mohammad Kaif chasing a second run forStewart.
Stewart was skilfully restricted by the Indian attack and at one point fellover his bat digging out an Agarkar yorker.
Collingwood was caught in the final over and Stewart, top-scorer at TrentBridge with 83, finished on 28 not out. Yuvraj took three wickets for 39 offseven overs and was later named man of the match.
