Kevin Pietersen during the first ODI in Rajkot on Friday. (AP)

Rajkot: Yuvraj Singh overcame a troublesome back on way to an unbeaten 138 off only 78 balls as India recorded a 158-run victory, their highest in terms of runs against England, to take a 1-0 lead in the seven-match series.

Batting with a belt round his waist and a runner in Gautam Gambhir for the most part of his innings, Yuvraj toyed with the English attack that made a mockery of Kevin Pietersen’s decision to field first. India reached 387 for five in their 50 overs.

It was the fastest ODI hundred (off 64 balls) against England and India’s best total at home and second highest anywhere. England could only reply with 229, and suffered their third heaviest ODI defeat ever.

Having arrived at the crease at the fall of Virender Sehwag — who was brilliantly caught by Ian Bell at mid wicket for a 73-ball 85 — Yuvraj didn’t waste time in getting used to pace and bounce of the wicket.

He set the tone of the innings in the first over he faced from Steve Harmison, pulling the pacer for consecutive boundaries and rounding off the over with a steer past slip. Even with his movement restricted, he had a stroke for every ball, digging out yorkers with the perfect timing.

He plundered runs at will, belting as many as 16 boundaries and six sixes during his 78-ball massacre. The 26-year-old batsman, who has struggled in Ranji Trophy after a poor run in the Challenger Series, got to his second fifty off only 22 balls with six fours and two sixes.

Yuvraj’s innings has made him a strong contender for the middle-order slot in the Test side left vacant by Sourav Ganguly’s retirement. Before his arrival to the crease, the Indian innings was given a rapid-fire start by in-form openers Sehwag, who slammed 85 in 73 balls with 10 fours and three sixes, and Gautam Gambhir (51).

Sehwag and Gambhir provided a flying start as they stitched together a partnership of 127. Suresh Raina (43) and Yuvraj then added 89 runs in only 12.5 overs.

Yuvraj and Mahendra Singh Dhoni made mincemeat of the visiting team’s largely one-dimensional attack to rattle up a stand of 105 runs in only 58 balls for the fifth wicket. Yusuf Pathan (0), who lasted only two balls, was the lone failure in the Indian line-up.

A total of 13 sixes were clobbered off the England bowlers to leave the visitors shell-shocked. England captain Pietersen rung in quick changes but failed to stem the flow of runs.

Faced with a stiff target, the England innings never really took off with Matt Prior (4) falling prey to Munaf Patel while Zaheer Khan accounted for Owais Shah (0) to reduce the visitors to 17 for two by the fifth over. The dismissal of the hard-hitting Andrew Flintoff (4), trapped leg before by Zaheer, came as a huge setback for England.

Paul Collingwood’s 150th ODI appearance was one to forget: he wafted at a wide one from R.P. Singh and feathered a catch to Dhoni.

Pietersen settled quickly into his stride, collecting three boundaries off RP. He kept things simple and rotated the strike, adding 71 with Patel. Just when it looked he was settled for a big score, the England captain went for an improbable run.

Rohit Sharma nailed a smart throw from cover to send Pietersen (63) on his way and the rest flittered away by the 38th over. Ravi Bopara’s lusty hitting took the tally of sixes for the match to 22.