India 381 for 6 (Yuvraj 150, Dhoni 134, Woakes 4-60) v England
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Yuvraj Singh struck 150 runs in 127 balls, his first hundred since the 2011 World Cup © Associated Press
A career-best 150 from Yuvraj Singh and a 10th ODI century from MS Dhoni took India to 381 for 6 in the Cuttack ODI. England, who have to win the match to stay alive in the series, 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.
The people in Barabati stadium, however, would be quite happy if the bowlers finally got their dues for the remainder of the game. They had spent three and half hours in pure nostalgia with each ball that Yuvraj and Dhoni sent their way during a partnership of 256 in 230 balls. At one end, there were flowing drives with scintillating timing and from the other came brutal swats. No one was safe. Not Ben Stokes, who was winded when a Dhoni whacked a ball back at his chest. Not Alex Hales, who was wringing his fingers after trying to get under a pull from Dhoni. Not even the spidercam was spared damage.
Yuvraj wasn’t quite as murderous, or maybe he was and was just a little bit kinder to things both living and non-living on the ground. He came in at the end of the third over, enjoyed England trying to bounce him out on a pitch that barely had any in the first place and bedded in to make his first hundred since the 2011 World Cup. It came off his 98th delivery and the celebrations made it clear how much the innings meant to him. He looked skyward, with his hands aloft. Then the bat handle thumped into his chest and he may even have become misty-eyed. At 35 years, having spent three years nowhere near the ODI team, wondering what would become of his career, coming back with his highest score had to be sweet.
There was no place for such emotion with Dhoni. He was what the situation made him. When he came in at the fall of Kohli’s wicket in the fifth over, he blocked 14 straight deliveries from Chris Woakes, who was the sole reason India were 25 for 3. The next time those two faced each other the ball was muscled over the midwicket boundary. Dhoni finished on 134 off 122 balls – having been 6 off 22 once – and became the first India to hit 200 sixes in ODIs. The shot – eerily similar to the one that won India the World Cup in 2011 – hit the top tier behind long-on. There was another reminder of that night in Mumbai; the final was the last time Yuvraj and Dhoni had put on 50 runs or more together.
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Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo