Man-of-the-match Yuvraj Singh scored a swashbuckling hundred and took 4-28 as India won the second one-day international against England in Indore. Yuvraj smashed his second successive century, hitting 118 off 122 balls as India racked up a daunting 292 for nine from their 50 overs. England could manage only 238 in reply as India took a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series.

Yet despite Yuvraj's heroics, the tourists were on course to claim an unlikely victory until just 12 overs before the end.

Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff had played England back into contention with a quickfire partnership of 73 but Yuvraj removed both of them in the final over of his spell to leave the visitors reeling at 184-5, a position from which they never recovered.

"We improved from the last game, let's hope we can improve some more," Pietersen said. "We had a good start with the ball, one of the top four getting a big score would probably have made the game a lot closer.

"We had a chance and probably let it slip there but Yuvraj Singh has played a fantastic game again today."

England got off to a bad start in their reply as Ian Bell was run out for one. However, Owais Shah and Matt Prior steadied the ship as they took the total from six for one to 102 for one until Shah was trapped lbw by Yuvraj for 58. That brought Pietersen to the crease but the partnership hardly had any time to bear fruit as Prior was bowled by Yuvraj for 38 moments later.

Flintoff was next in and displayed his full repertoire of shots, with Pietersen playing the anchor role. The Lancashire all-rounder looked to be back to his aggressive best, hitting three sixes in his 43 off only 35 balls. The pair hit 59 runs off five overs to leave England needing 110 to win off 13 overs.

But Yuvraj then struck, trapping Flintoff lbw before bowling Pietersen through the gate for 33 in the space of four balls.

And despite some brief resistance from Samit Patel (20) and Stuart Broad (22), Virender Sehwag polished off the tail with three quick wickets, bowling Broad to seal another comfortable victory for the home side.

Yuvraj had to pass a fitness test on his back, which troubled him for the majority of his stunning unbeaten 138 that helped India to secure a comfortable 158-run victory in the opening one-day international on Friday. This innings was less destructive, but his 118 drove India from a perilous 29 for three after deciding to bat first to a commanding total of 292 on a slow pitch with uneven bounce.

England had begun brightly, with Nottinghamshire seamer Broad claiming three for 14 in his five-over new ball burst to restore confidence after their opening match mauling. But instead of limiting India to a modest total on a pitch showing signs of turn, England were unable to stop them gradually building their momentum, with Yuvraj teaming up with opener Gautam Gambhir in a brilliant stand of 134 off 126 balls. When he was finally out with six overs remaining, caught behind to give Broad his fourth victim after hitting 15 fours and two sixes, Yuvraj had firmly established his credentials for a recall to the Test line-up as a replacement for the retired Sourav Ganguly.

England almost made a perfect start at the Nehru Stadium when Gambhir pushed the first ball of the match from Jimmy Anderson to cover and was out of his ground when Patel's throw to the non-striker's end missed the stumps. This disappointment was shrugged off quickly when Broad struck with his second ball, Sehwag chopping onto his stumps after attempting to cut a ball too close to him.

Broad followed with a second wicket in his next over when Suresh Raina mistimed an attempted drive off his legs to Patel at square leg and captured his third soon afterwards when Rohit Sharma mistimed an attempted pull high in the air and Owais Shah ran around from mid-wicket for the catch.

His demise brought to the crease Yuvraj, who was greeted by huge cheers from the enthusiastic crowd. Running well between the wickets and peppering the boundary, Yuvraj teamed up with Gambhir to reach their half-century partnership off only 61 balls and bring up the hundred partnership off 105 balls. Gambhir reached 70 off 76 balls before finally playing on to Pietersen's off-spin.

Yuvraj chose to leave the powerplay until the 43rd over and, fortunately for England, fell two overs later, but a spirited unbeaten 50 off only 29 balls from Yusuf Pathan helped to add 82 in the last 10 overs.