16 balls, 58 runs

Then came the sixth, over long-on. And the world record 8212; six sixes in an over for the first time in Twenty20, and for the second time on the world stage after South African Herschelle Gibbs at World Cup 2007.

Yuvraj Singh, the prince who could never be king, was smiling again, his half-century coming off just 12 balls, another record. The celebration? Strangely minimal, an upper cut off his left hand and a bat salute towards his teammates in the dug-out.

India, at 171 for three before that sixer blizzard, were 207 just six balls later, and 218 after 20 overs 8212; an astonishing run rate of 10.90. In the end, England just couldn8217;t keep up.

Despite a stirring late surge, staying level with India till 18 overs at 171 8212; they finally lost by 18 runs 8212; England bowed out, leaving India with this simple equation: beat South Africa tomorrow, be level with the hosts and New Zealand at two wins each and hope that the calculators decide the net run rate in their favour. England will take the next flight home from the Super Eight 4-team group.

And to think that India, and Yuvraj would actually have to thank former England skipper Andrew Flintoff for all that. For, Yuvraj was just setting up his innings at five runs from three balls, when he latched on to two deliveries from Flintoff in the 18th over, slamming them for successive fours.

Then, as the over ended, Flintoff brushed past, slipping in a nasty word or two, eye-balling the temperamental Chandigarh star, who immediately started walking up to the tall English bowler, waving his fist before umpire Billy Doctrove intervened. Well, we all know what happened after that.

Rookie pacer Stuart Broad came in to bowl the 19th over, and here is how it went:

8226; 18.1: Mighty swing, ball sails over the park over square-leg

8226; 18.2: Powerful flick off those wrists, ball disappears over wide long-on

8226; 18.3: Moves to leg, makes room, smashes over extra-cover

8226; 18.4: Wide full-toss, slices it over backward point

8226; 18.5: Goes down on one knee, scoops the ball over mid-wicket

8226; 18.6: Rocks back, six all the way over wide mid-on

Then, in the last over, he hit Flintoff for another six over extra cover, his seventh hit over the boundary, before holing out one ball before the end of the Indian innings to rival skipper Paul Collingwood in the deep 8212; 58 runs, 16 balls, seven sixes, three fours, 15 minutes.

Later, India manager Lalchand Rajput said: 8220;He was itching to go in after 15 overs, but we held him back. That had him charged up a bit too. He wanted to prove a point. There was also that exchange with Flintoff.8221;

As fate would have it, look who was forced to walk up to the crowd and retrieve the ball after that fifth consecutive six? Andrew Flintoff, of course.