Yuvraj excels in India's record total

Yuvraj Singh’s sparkling knock of 138 off 78 deliveries aided India to post a mammoth total of 387 for five against England in the series opener at Rajkot on Friday. With such a huge total, the visitors have been pushed to the back foot in the very first one-dayer of the seven-match series.

The southpaw who batted with a runner (Gautam Gambhir) due to back injury hit as many as six sixes and 14 boundaries to record this express innings.

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Getting rid of his poor form Yuvraj registered his ninth One-Day International (ODI) century. He was also instrumental in two key partnerships: first one of 89 runs with Suresh Raina (43) for the third wicket and second of 105 runs for the fifth wicket with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (39).

Earlier called to bat first, Indian opener Virender Sehwag (85) and Gautam Gambhir (51) gave the required start that the host needed putting on 127 runs for the opening partnership. Gambhir fell to Samit Patel after scoring his 12th ODI fifty. Sehwag’s 73-ball innings comprised of three lofty sixes and 10 boundaries and it was his 30th ODI fifty.

Brief scores: India 387 for 5 in 50 overs. (Yuvraj Singh 138 not out, Virender Sehwag 85, Gautam Gambhir 51, Mahendra Singh Dhoni 39; Steve Harmison 2/75, Samit Patel 2/78, Andrew Flintoff 1/67).

Teams

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt.), Virendra Sehwag (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, R P Singh, Munaf Patel.

England: Kevin Pietersen (capt.), Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Andrew Flintoff, Samit Patel, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison.