FARIDABAD (India), March 31: Teenager Suresh Raina hammered 81 not out from 89 balls to power India to a four-wicket victory over England in the second one-day international on Friday.

The 19-year-old left-hander launched a blistering counter-attack to pull India out of trouble at 92 for five in reply to England’s 226 in 49.5 overs.

Raina, dropped on 18 by paceman James Anderson off his own bowling, added 118 runs for the sixth wicket with Mahendra Dhoni (38) on a slow pitch of low bounce and India finished on 230 for six in 49 overs.

India lead the seven-match series 2-0.

Kevin Pietersen top-scored for England with 71 and equalled West Indian Viv Richards’s record for the fastest 1,000 runs in one-day cricket, reaching the milestone in his 21st innings.

Pietersen and left-handed opener Andrew Strauss (61) were dropped off off-spinner Ramesh Powar before anchoring the innings after captain Andrew Flintoff chose to bat.

Strauss added 66 runs with Matt Prior (33) for the first wicket and 64 for the third with Pietersen before six wickets tumbled in the last 10 overs in chase of quick runs.

Flintoff, playing his 100th one-dayer, was stumped for five stepping out against Powar.

Pietersen curbed his aggression and cut down the sweep shot after he was dropped on three trying to slog Powar. His sixth one-day fifty contained four fours and two sixes in 87 balls.

Powar took three for 34 and paceman Shantakumaran Sreesanth three for 40.

Raina played many improvised shots on the slow pitch, including an audacious chip over fine leg against paceman Kabir Ali, to rally India.

Openers Virender Sehwag (26) and Gautam Gambhir (29) put on 61 before they went in quick succession to reckless shots.

Captain Rahul Dravid was then run out for five, Yuvraj Singh (18) played on to left-arm spinner Ian Blackwell and Mohammad Kaif was out for duck as five wickets tumbled for 31 runs in a 11-over spell.

Kaif has failed to score in three of his last four innings.

England bowlers conceded just 19 runs between the 10th and 20th overs when Raina came in.

He quickly took charge, lofting paceman Liam Plunkett over midwicket for fours, and ran hard between the wickets with Dhoni who hit just two fours in his 55-ball effort.

India required 65 off the last 10 overs before Raina hammered three fours in one Ali over and India made it easily in the end. Raina’s knock, his maiden international 50, featured eight fours and a six.

Although Flintoff (1-29) and Blackwell (2-39) bowled tightly, England were hampered by the absence of slow bowlers after Dravid used his slow bowlers effectively for 35 overs.

India won the first game by 39 runs. The third game of the seven-match series will be played in Goa on Monday.

Scoreboard

England

A. Strauss b Powar 61

M. Prior lbw b H. Singh 33

O. Shah c Dhoni b Powar 0

K. Pietersen c Dravid b Y. Singh 71

A. Flintoff st Dhoni b Powar 5

P. Collingwood run out 5

G. Jones c Gambhir b Sreesanth 22

I. Blackwell b Sreesanth 9

L. Plunkett b Pathan 4

K. Ali not out 1

J. Anderson b Sreesanth 2

Extras (b-4 lb-3 nb-4 w-2) 13

Total (all out, 49.5 overs) 226

Fall of wkts: 1-66 2-71 3-135 4-143 5-174 6-193 7-214 8-221 9-223 10-226

Bowling: I. Pathan 8-2-29-1 S. Sreesanth 6.5-0-40-3 (nb-1 w-1) H. Singh 10-1-43-1 R. Powar 10-0-34-3 (nb-1) V. Sehwag 4-0-21-0 (nb-1) Y. Singh 10-0-39-1 G. Gambhir 1-0-13-0 (nb-1 w-1)

India

V. Sehwag b Blackwell 26

G. Gambhir c&b Anderson 29

R. Dravid run out 5

Y. Singh b Blackwell 18

M. Kaif lbw b Plunkett 0

S. Raina not out 81

M. Dhoni b Flintoff 38

I. Pathan not out 12

Extras (lb-4 nb-1 w-16) 21

Total (for 6 wkts, 49 overs) 230

Fall of wkts: 1-61 2-70 3-72 4-80 5-92 6-210

Did not bat: R. Powar, H. Singh, S. Sreesanth

Bowling: J. Anderson 10-0-60-1 (w-5) K. Ali 7-0-50-0 (w-3) A. Flintoff 10-1-29-1 (w-3) I. Blackwell 9-0-39-2 L. Plunkett 9-3-29-1 (w-1) P. Collingwood 4-0-19-0 (nb-1).—Agencies

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