Supporters who failed to get tickets for this match when they went on sale at the weekend suffered the full weight of a police lathi charge after forming a human roadblock to manifest their disappointment. Such are the lengths to which some people will go to see their heroes in action here, and the lucky ones were rewarded yesterday with another comfortable win against an England side who are unlikely to survive intact.

Kevin Pietersen, the captain, said that Graeme Swann will be strongly considered for the third game in Kanpur on Thursday when they will try to halve the 2-0 deficit in the seven-match series. At the spruce, well-appointed stadium in Indore they did not suffer anything approaching the battering of the opening game in Rajkot, but familiar failings with and against spin prevented them from building on a start that exceeded most expectations.

A second hundred in the series by Yuvraj Singh took his aggregate to 256 runs from 200 balls, with eight sixes and 31 fours over the two matches, then, as if his latest wizardry was not enough to secure a second successive man-of-the-match award, he removed four England batsmen with his slow left-arm. Suffice to say that his back injury had cleared. It needed one of the England top six to match his effort with the bat to make a chase towards 293 remotely feasible.

The cracked pitch, though low and slow, did not deteriorate so much that the toss can be viewed as decisive. As Pietersen graciously acknowledged - again - the better side emerged on top. At least England had openings this time, when Stuart Broad took three wickets in his first four overs with the new ball, and then when Andrew Flintoff and Pietersen reduced the required run-rate to a shade more than eight per over and were set.

In the first instance, the bowlers could not back up Broad's lively burst. Samit Patel, the designated frontline spinner, was entrusted with only five overs - as many as Pietersen bowled himself. By comparison, the four India spinners returned a collective analysis of nine for 119 from 27 overs, with the tenth wicket (actually the first) courtesy of a brilliant pick-up and throw by Suresh Raina to run out Ian Bell.

England have been bowled out in nine of their past 11 one-day internationals in India stretching back to March 2006. Matt Prior struggled to manoeuvre spin and, although he added 96 with Owais Shah for the second wicket, their partnership spanned 23 overs. In slightly less time, the left-handed pair of Yuvraj and Gautam Gambhir, an unsung influence on the two games, had put on 134 despite coming together with India on 29 for three.

Adapting to the surface, Yuvraj did not drive through the line as readily as he had three days earlier, but he still rocked quickly into position to pull. England worked out the value of slow cutters, to the point where Paul Collingwood's stock ball was about 65mph. But, improbably, the loss of Yuvraj to a thin edge resulted in acceleration as the powerful Yusuf Pathan, who came to the fore with Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, reached a 29-ball fifty with some meaty shots through leg.

Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj gave little away during the middle third of the reply and England ambled singles instead of pressurising fielders. Pietersen waited until he and Flintoff were set before taking their powerplay and they hit 59 from the five overs, Flintoff striking 39 from 15 balls, including three sixes in one over off Harbhajan.

England needed 110 from 13 overs at that point, but, with the batsmen now attuned to seam, Yuvraj managed to deceive both on his return. Given the inexperience of Patel and Ravi Bopara, the batting order was deeper in theory than practice.

India
G Gambhir b Pietersen 70
V Sehwag b Broad 1
S K Raina c Patel b Broad 4
R G Sharma c Shah b Broad 3
Yuvraj Singh c Prior b Broad 118
*M S Dhoni b Collingwood 15
Y K Pathan not out 50
Harbhajan Singh run out 8
Zaheer Khan run out 1
R P Singh b Harmison 4
M M Patel not out 0
Extras (b 3, lb 9, w 4, nb 2)18
Total (9 wkts, 50 overs) 292

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-15, 3-29, 4-163, 5-206, 6-239, 7-258, 8-261, 9-274.

Bowling: Anderson 6-0-26-0; Broad 10-1-55-4; Flintoff 9-0-49-0; Harmison 7-1-50-1; Patel 5-0-37-0; Collingwood 8-0-43-1; Pietersen 5-0-20-1.

England
I R Bell run out 1
M J Prior b Yuvraj 38
O A Shah lbw b Yuvraj 58
*K P Pietersen b Yuvraj 33
A Flintoff lbw b Yuvraj 43
P D Collingwood c and b Harbhajan 2
S R Patel c Gambhir b Sehwag 20
R S Bopara c Raina b Pathan 3
S C J Broad b Sehwag 22
S J Harmison st Dhoni b Sehwag 6
J M Anderson not out 1
Extras (lb 2, w 6, nb 3) 11
Total (47 overs) 238

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-102, 3-109, 4-183, 5-184, 6-187, 7-191, 8-222, 9-233.

Bowling: Zaheer 8-1-37-0; Patel 7-0-31-0; R P Singh 5-0-49-0; Yuvraj 10-0-28-4; Harbhajan 10-0-45-1; Sehwag 5-0-28-3; Pathan 2-0-18-1.

Umpires: A M Saheba and R B Tiffin (Zimbabwe).