It was both untidy and emphatic. India made light work of their 249 target, passing it with 68 deliveries to spare in Nagpur. That they only won this first ODI by four wickets was down to an unnecessarily messy finish. One that spoke more to their disorder at how simple this was than any rallying from England’s part.

It was a mix of old and new that combined to give those in light blue a 1-0 lead in this three-match series. Ravindra Jadeja’s 3 for 26 was supplemented by Harshit Rana’s 3 for 53 on his maiden ODI appearance to roll England for 248 with 14 deliveries to spare. Jos Buttler’s 52 and Jacob Bethell’s 51 were the only scores of note after Phil Salt’s emphatic start of 43 from 26 had been wasted.

With Virat Kohli ruled out with a right knee injury sustained on Wednesday evening, Shubman Gill stepped up to ice the chase with 87, helped initially by Shreyas Iyer’s 59 and Axar Patel’s  outstanding 52, in stands of 94 and 108, respectively.

The former came at a vital juncture, as Jofra Archer nicked off Yashasvi Jaiswal on ODI debut and Saqib Mahmood – in for the rested Mark Wood – had skipper Rohit Sharma caught at mid-on in the space of six deliveries. From 19 for 2, India did not look back.

Iyer’s fifty off 30 deliveries set an emphatic tone, dealing with anything and everything short, pulling and then ramping Archer for consecutive sixes at the end of the seventh over. Four of his nine fours were carved off Brydon Carse, who opted for length deliveries more on the off side once it became apparent Iyer was relishing the chance to heave to leg.

Axar’s introduction up the order proved a masterstroke, the left-hander playing with the kind of freedom that allowed Gill to calmly go about his business. Gill’s one alarm came when given out lbw on 38 to Liam Livingstone, but even that was corrected immediately as DRS showed a clear inside edge. The vice-captain’s 14th fifty was his first against England.

The pair combined expertly in the 29th over against Carse, taking 17 from it with two boundaries each – the best of them a ramp from Axar over the keeper. It was then that this chase officially became a canter, with just 48 needed from the last 21 overs. Axar raised his bat for fifty for the first time on home soil, driving his 46th ball, from Carse, on the up and through the fielder at mid-off.

That he was not able to see things through – bowled by a slow leg spinner by Adil Rashid – was a disappointment to Gill at the non-striker’s end. On 81 at the time, with 28 remaining, thoughts then turned to the 25-year-old’s century, which seemed to bring about indecision, first with KL Rahul’s dismissal – a tame caught and bowled to Rashid – and then his own, as he failed to strike Mahmood over Buttler at mid on.

Jadeja’s edge off Mahmood through wicketkeeper Salt for the winning runs characterised the anxiety brought on by that unnecessary cascade of three wickets for just four runs. But it also highlighted England’s shortcomings with the bat, brought about by their own three-wicket collapse at the top of the order in the space of eight deliveries.

Salt had driven an opening stand of 75 with Ben Duckett, leaving India flapping in the field. The brutality of Salt’s acceleration after a watchful start was contained in Rana’s third over for 26 courtesy of three sixes – a top-edge, a slog sweep off a slower ball and a heave over midwicket to finish the over.

But a miscommunication on a third run brought about his demise, the first domino to fall as 75 for 0 became 77 for 3. A cut to deep point was chased down by Iyer, who threw to the striker’s end to find Salt comfortably short of his ground, having been sent back by Duckett.

Back came Rana with a bang, with two wickets in the following over. Duckett mistimed a pull shot that required a spectacular catch from Jaiswal, running back from midwicket before a well-judged dive. Harry Brook was then taken well down the leg side by Rahul, who had beaten Rishabh Pant to wicketkeeping duties, after a rising length delivery caught the bottom glove.

Joe Root came to the middle for his first ODI innings since the 2023 World Cup, the ideal man for such a rebuild even given his absence from 50-over cricket. What optimism there was with Buttler at the other end did not last long, with Root falling lbw to Jadeja after 51 deliveries at the crease. It was the fourth time the left-arm spinner has dismissed him in the format.

At that stage, England were 111 for 4 in the 20th over. Not too dissimilar to India’s 111 for 3 at the end of the 16th, when Bethell trapped Iyer plumb in front.

Bethell’s stand with Buttler for the fifth wicket looked to be trending towards an emphatic rebuild akin to what Gill and Axar achieved. But the English duo’s partnership was capped at 59 when Buttler, nine deliveries after bringing up his 38th fifty-plus ODI score from 58 balls, clipped an Axar long-hop around the corner to Hardik Pandya at short fine leg.

Unlike India’s middle order, England’s fell apart, even as Bethell held his nerve through to a second ODI fifty from 62 balls. His maturity and reading of the situation was a lesson to more experienced heads around him. Those lower down owed it to him to stick around, but the return of pace ended up seeing off Liam Livingstone (caught behind for Rana’s third) and Carse (bowled for Mohammed Shami’s first).

Once Bethell was given out on review after Jadeja had struck his back pad on the sweep, only a few lusty strikes from Archer (21 not out) gave England what looked a respectable total at the halfway stage. India, though, showed it no respect whatsoever.

Brief scores:
India 251 for 6 in 3.4 overs  (Shubman Gill 87, Shreyas Iyer 59, Axar Patel  52, Adil Rashid 2-49,Saqib Mahmood 2-47) beat England 248 in 47.4 overs (Joss Buttler 52, Phil Salt 43, Ben Duckett 32, Jacob Bethell 51; Harshit Rana 3-53, Ravindra  Jadeja 3-26) by four wickets

[Cricinfo]