A complete all-round performance by India, on Thursday (February 6), helped them secure a comfortable win against England in the first One-Day International in Nagpur. Half-centuries by Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel backed up the fine effort by the bowlers and the fielders earlier in the innings as India overhauled England's total with 68 balls to spare and four wickets in hand. While India were clinical in all three departments, they were massively aided by the conditions. The pitch which was two-paced in the first half, flattened out for them in the second, making England's decision to bat first prove counter-productive, although the spinners did find some help later on.

Earlier in the day, India handed two debut caps - to Yashasvi Jaiswal and Harshit Rana, with Virat Kohli having to miss the contest due to soreness in his right knee. Rana was in for some action early on in the contest, his four overs witnessing extremes of good and bad. In the opening over, he was put away for 11 overs but returned to bowl a maiden. In his third, Phil Salt carted him for 26 runs - the most conceded by a bowler on debut - and then returned to snap two wickets in one over. But before Rana could return Ben Duckett and Harry Brook in the 10th over, courtesy some great catching by Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, the momentum got disrupted due to a communication breakdown between Salt and Duckett. Salt, who was trying to run a comfortable third, was sent back by Duckett halfway through the run, ending a 75-run opening stand within the first Powerplay.

Despite the three wickets in a span of seven deliveries, Joe Root and Jos Buttler made sure that India didn't get on top of them. Root particularly made use of his wide range of shots, troubling the lengths of the spinners. His promising innings though was ended on 19 when Ravindra Jadeja trapped him leg before on the back foot. Jadeja was particularly tough to play on a two-paced surface where he kept changing his pace and angles. He attacked the stumps on a pretty regular basis though. Nevertheless, even as the run rate dipped Buttler and Jacob Bethell added a 59-run partnership that proved crucial in England reaching 248.

Buttler had adapted well to the surface and registered his 27th ODI fifty. However, just when it seemed that he was settled to pick up the scoring, he was undone by Axar's delivery that kept low and got him to top edge a sweep to square leg. His wicket sparked a collapse. Even as Bethell was able to rotate the strike around and marched towards his half-century, wickets kept falling from the other end.Jofra Archer landed some lusty blows, particularly tearing apart Hardik Pandya for 16 runs to the 44th over. But it came too late, too little as England were bowled out with 14 balls to play.

In return, the visitors began well with the ball. Jaiswal, who drove, slashed and cut boundaries early in his innings was caught fishing outside the offstump to a delivery by Archer which shaped away just a little. In the next over, Rohit Sharma too succumbed, continuing his thread of poor form. The Indian captain, attempting to flick Saqib Mahmood, went early into the shot, and toe-ended the ball to mid-on.

Although the early blows seemed to lift the visitors, Shreyas ensured that England could not gain control of the game. He attacked the pacers, smoking consecutive sixes off Archer's short balls in the seventh over. The obvious strategy of bowling short balls backfired early, and as Brydon carse attempted to keep him guessing with three full length balls, he was sent beyond the boundary line on all three occasions. By the 14th over, his constant attack against the pacers alike had facilitated Iyer to score yet another half-century. Even as he attacked aggressively against Bethell's spin as well, it was the spinner who finally got him sent back by trapping him legbefore.

Axar, who was promoted to bat at No. 5, got into the act early. He slogswept Adil Rashid for a boundary and then Bethell for a six. Gill, who had taken his time to settle in, was more collected with the aggression in his shots. Even as he was quick to duly punish the errors in lengths, as also find gaps, he paced along at a more even rate. The pitch by then had flattened out and there wasn't enough for the bowlers to trouble the duo.

England offered a bit of a scare. After Rashid had cleaned up Axar, Rahul offered the spinner a return catch and Gill's short-arm jab landed in the hands of the mid-on fielder as India slipped from 221 for 3 to 235 for 6 in a space of 17 deliveries. It unsettled India's smooth momentum till then, but Hardik Pandya and Jadeja took them over the line without any further hiccups.

Brief Scores: England 248 in 47.4 overs (Jos Buttler 52, Jacob Bethell 51; Ravindra Jadeja 3-26, Harshit Rana 3-53) lost to India 251/6 in 38.4 overs (Shubman Gill 87, Shreyas Iyer 59; Saqib Mahmood 2-47, Adil Rashid 2-49) by 4 wickets.