Tredwell helps England to surprise win
James Tredwell took 4-44 as England restricted India to 316 for nine to win the first of five ODIs by nine wickets at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot, on Friday.
Full Scorecard: India v England
The hosts started off well enough, adding 96 runs for the first wicket, before both Gautam Gambhir (52) and Ajinkya Rahane (47) became Tredwell's first couple of victims.
Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina also got starts, both recording half-centuries, but Tredwell did not allow them to prosper, cleaning them up just as they started to look threatening.
Losing wickets at regular intervals, India struggled to keep up the pace, and even though Mahendra Singh Dhoni gave them a whiff of hope smashing four sixes in his a 25-ball 32, the tail could not match his big-hitting power and fell short of the total by a small margin.
Earlier, solid performances by all England's batsmen lifted their score to 325 for four after opting to bat.
England skipper, Alastair Cook, and fellow-opener Ian Bell enjoyed the flat track provided, and they put together a hefty 158-run partnership for the first wicket inside 28 overs.
India's bowling attack seemed flat, and the first wicket came against the run of play - Bell tried for a quick single to short fine leg but found himself short of his crease when Rahane fired in a bullet-throw to end the batsman's stay for 85.
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Bell faced only 96 balls, and found the rope on nine occasions, and cleared it once.
As is the case with most big stands, the other partner - in this case, Cook - followed soon after for 75, lobbing part-timer Raina to Rahane at short leg who snaffled an easy catch.
Kevin Pietersen (44), on his return after nearly a year's absence in this format, combined with Eoin Morgan (41) to reach 248 before both batsmen fell victim to Ashok Dinda within the space of 11 deliveries.
Craig Kieswetter and Samit Patel saw the visitors through to the end, taking 38 runs off the final two overs with some lusty hitting, especially from Patel who raced to 44 off only 20 balls.
The second match in the series will be in Kochi on Sunday, January 15.
INDIA: G Gambhir, AM Rahane, V Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, SK Raina, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), RA Jadeja, R Ashwin, B Kumar, I Sharma, AB Dinda
ENGLAND: AN Cook (capt), IR Bell, KP Pietersen, JE Root, EJG Morgan, C Kieswetter (wk), SR Patel, TT Bresnan, JC Tredwell, ST Finn, JW Dernbach
