England were left to rue another below average batting display on their white-ball tour of India, who went 1-0 up in the three-match one-day international series with a four-wicket win in Nagpur.
Phil Salt’s 43 off 26 balls propelled England to 75 without loss but three wickets fell in eight balls and the tourists never recovered their momentum despite Jos Buttler and Jacob Bethell half-centuries.
A total of 248 all out in 47.4 overs was overhauled courtesy of 87 from Shubman Gill, who put on 94 with Shreyas Iyer (59) and 108 with Axar Patel (52), before a mini-wobble saw India creep rather than cruise over the line with 68 balls to spare.
Not even the absence of Virat Kohli, ruled out with an injury to his right knee, could derail the hosts, who brought back several star names after they were rested or unavailable for the 4-1 T20 series victory.
While Varun Chakravarthy ran the rule over England in the T20s, the wily Ravindra Jadeja made sure their spin woes continued with figures of 9-1-26-3, and Harshit Rana, whose appearance as a concussion substitute caused consternation in the fourth T20, took three for 53 on ODI debut.
Buttler top-scored with 52 while Bethell demonstrated no lack of self-restraint in his 51, while Ben Duckett made a punchy 32 and Jofra Archer 21 not out, but no England batter was able to really kick on.
Archer and Saqib Mahmood each took a wicket as India lurched to 19 for two but Gill, who overturned an lbw decision against him on 38, Iyer and Patel were superb as England were made to pay for failing to capitalise on a turbocharged start after winning the toss.
The openers had India on the ropes with seven boundaries in eight balls as Salt laid waste to Rana, who saw a top-edge then two meaty whips disappear over the rope in a sixth over costing 26.
That doubled England’s score before Duckett swept Axar to distraction but a mix-up led to the run-out of Salt, who pierced the in-field and came back for a third run only to be sent back and short of his crease when KL Rahul whipped off the bails following Iyer’s throw from the deep.
Duckett compounded the mistake as India’s two debutants combined, with Yashasvi Jaiswal taking a superb catch to hand a wicket to Rana, who had his second when Harry Brook gloved a lifting delivery down the leg-side.
Joe Root, on his first ODI since the 2023 World Cup, could not steady the ship after Jadeja fizzed through his defences, the Yorkshireman lbw for 19 with height unable to save him on review.
It was left to Buttler and Bethell, promoted ahead of Liam Livingstone, to rebuild.
The pair eschewed risk in a 59-run stand, with Buttler more fluent as Bethell took eight from his first 27 balls before whipping Hardik Pandya for six and then upping the ante with sweeps and reverse sweeps.
Both batters perished shortly after bringing up half-centuries, though, with Buttler deceived by Axar’s bounce as a top-edge looped gently to Pandya while Bethell missed a slog sweep off Jadeja and was lbw on review.
In-between, Livingstone injudiciously charged at Rana and tickled to Rahul while Brydon Carse swung for the hills off Mohammed Shami and saw his stumps disturbed.
Some lusty hitting from Archer carried England just short of 250 and the fast bowler made the breakthrough in India’s reply, finally finding the edge of Jaiswal after beating it several times.
Rohit Sharma’s lean run continued as he perished to Saqib Mahmood but England were unable to capitalise, with Iyer thrashing back-to-back sixes off Archer, whose 90mph pace was used against him.
Carse struggled to hit his lengths as he conceded 21 in two overs, with Iyer and Gill making hay behind square.
Iyer brought up a 30-ball fifty but then missed a sweep off Bethell and was lbw after being rapped on the front pad, although Gill’s inside edge spared him when he was given out off Livingstone.
Carse, who leaked 52 in five overs, was crashed through the covers then uppercut for fours by Axar before being thrashed either side of the wicket for back-to-back fours by Gill as India seemed to be hurrying towards their target.
Adil Rashid ripped one through the gate of Axar then claimed a low return catch off Rahul before Gill clothed Mahmood to Buttler as India lost three wickets in 17 balls.
Despite a couple of nervy moments, Hardik and Jadeja got them over the line, the latter edging Mahmood for four but only after Salt spilled the chance.
