India secured a comfortable victory over England in the first ODI after a catastrophic collapse from the tourists.
England collapsed from 135-0 to 251 all out to succumb to a dismal 66-run defeat in Pune.
Eoin Morgan won the toss and, like in the final T20, elected to bowl first.
India put into bat
India’s scoring rate began slowly, but gradually picked up as the overs passed.
Rohit Sharma was first to go as he edged behind to Jos Buttler off Ben Stokes’ bowling for 15 with India 64-1.
A big moment came soon after as Shikhar Dhawan skied a shot straight down the throat of Moeen Ali but he dropped a seemingly routine catch with Dhawan on 60.
Virat Kohli was looking in strong nick before he fell for 56 with Moeen making up for his earlier drop with a solid catch.
A potentially serious injury to Sam Billings came when he damaged his shoulder trying to prevent a boundary.
The Kent wicketkeeper temporarily left the field for treatment, but would be fit enough to bat.
In his absence, Liam Livingstone came on as a substitute fielder and made an impact as he took a solid catch to dismiss his new Lancashire team-mate Shreyas Iyer for just six.
Dhawan then suffered heartbreak as he was out two runs short of his century as he picked out Morgan at mid-off.
England were very happy with the position they were in, coming back to leave India 197-4 with just under 12 overs left.
Things soon got even better when Hardik Pandya edged straight to Jonny Bairstow in the slips after scoring just one to make the score 205-5.
He was replaced at the crease by his brother Krunal Pandya, who was making his debut.
Krunal wanted to put on a performance in memory of his late father who passed away in January and it would be one he will remember.
A superb partnership with KL Rahul saw the pair both hit quickfire 50s, with Krunal’s coming off of just 26 deliveries.
England’s innings gets off to a blistering start
The pair stuck in brilliantly to rescue India’s innings and get them to 317-5 from their 50 overs.
England opened with their usual partnership of Jason Roy and Bairstow and they both got off to a blistering start.
They constantly were ahead of the run rate and consistently hit boundaries.
Bairstow soon reached a superb 50 from 40 deliveries, carrying on his good form in limited overs cricket.
England raced into a 100 partnership, to 107-0 from just 12 overs, however Roy was to face more bad luck while in the 40s.
The Surrey opener fell for 46 as he could only pick out the substitute fielder Suryakumar Yadav.
Ben Stokes, playing in his first ODI since his 2019 World Cup Final heroics, was batting at three for a change which did not pay off as he made just three – giving debutant Prasidh Krishna his second wicket.
It could have been worse for England the very next ball, as Kohli dropped new batsman Morgan when it seemed at first that he had held on.
Jonny Bairstow denied a century
Bairstow would then suffer heartbreak as he would depart for 94 after Kuldeep Yadav held on for a solid catch.
Morgan then departed after nicking Shardul Thakur’s delivery straight through to Rahul.
With England showing signs of a collapse, Buttler and Billings knew they needed to get stuck in and show signs that Krunal and Rahul showed in India’s innings
It wasn’t to be however, as Buttler fell cheaply for just two runs after a tight lbw decision from Thakur.
Billings showed resilience but gave away his wicket cheaply as picked out Kohli, who made an easy catch.
England had slumped to 217-6 and still required a further 101 runs to win.
Moeen was England’s final recognised batsman but he was on his way after making 30, as he edged behind to Rahul, and with that England hopes slowly faded away with them now 237-7.
Sam Curran followed an over later as he launched one straight down the throat of sub fielder Shubman Gill for 12.
An Adil Rashid five-ball duck preceded Tom Curran hitting one up in the air and down the throat of Bhuvneshwar Kumar to complete the collapse, secure India a 66-run victory and a 1-0 series lead.
Dhawan was awarded man of the match for his knock of 98, while Krunal’s blistering half-century meant he had scored the fastest half-century on debut from 26 balls.
The second of three ODIs begins on Friday at 8am, live on Sky Sports Cricket.
By Josh Mann
