England’s white-ball feelgood factor abandoned them at Edgbaston, with India taking the first game of the Metro Bank ODI Series by six wickets.
Harry Brook’s side moved top of the T20 world rankings with this month’s 4-0 win over the tourists but it is a different story in the 50-over game, where they languish at number eight in the standings and have now lost 14 of their last 20 matches.
With an ODI World Cup the new priority for head coach Brendon McCullum, whose personal remit has shifted following his sacking from the Test set-up, their one-day struggles represent a fast growing headache.
England never really regained their footing after slipping to 80 for five, but Joe Root’s unbeaten 76 and a career-best 68 from all-rounder Liam Dawson roused them to 258.
That always looked too light though, with away skipper Shubman Gill easing to a classy 80 before being forced to retire hurt with apparent hamstring problems.
Two quickfire wickets followed to lift English hopes but Axar Patel, who had earlier swept away the tail to claim four for 62, joined Washington Sundar to finish things with a pair of unbeaten half-centuries. Washington sealed victory in style with 28 balls remaining, lifting Adil Rashid over the top for six.
India held all the cards as the chase began but suffered a double setback when the returning A-listers Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli came and went without making a dent.
Sharma slogged Sam Curran to mid-on with 11 to his name and Jofra Archer had Kohli lbw for just five shuffling across his stumps. Both men had been roared to the crease by an India-skewed Birmingham crowd but failed to produce any further excitement.
England favoured pace early on, with Archer and debutant Josh Tongue accounting for 13 of the first 16 overs, but their hopes of blowing the game open failed to ruffle Gill’s feathers as he reeled off a typically elegant fifty.
Largely unconcerned by the home attack, his real battle was with his own body as he paused for several bouts of treatment. He was eventually forced to succumb, hobbling off with the score at 149 for two and his team in command.
But his exit changed the tone, Brook running out Shreyas Iyer and Tongue bowling KL Rahul to knock a hole in the middle order. From a position of considerable strength, India seemed to have blinked.
But Axar and Washington shared the finisher’s job, clubbing together in an unbroken partnership of 102 from 105 balls.
England began the day by winning the toss and putting on 61 for the first wicket, Ben Duckett fluent and inventive on his way to a run-a-ball 43 while his latest opening partner turned in a flat audition.
Jacob Bethell, following in the recent footsteps of Phil Salt, Jamie Smith, Zak Crawley and Rehan Ahmed at the top of the order, scraped together a clunky 14 and chewed up 31 deliveries before turning Gurnoor Brar straight to midwicket. That kicked off a dramatic collapse, with a England flailing to lose five for 19 in the next 26 balls.
Duckett uppercut Brar to third man and Jasprit Bumrah, in his first ODI since the 2023 World Cup final, had Brook caught at slip immediately after being hurried back for a second spell. Prasidh Krishna followed by picking Jos Buttler and Curran in the same over.
Complete capitulation could have followed had Shivam Dube held a caught-and-bowled chance off Root on seven, but that miss allowed the Yorkshireman a second chance to rebuild. He and Dawson stayed together for the next 22 overs, settling for calm accumulation as they pieced together a stand of 121.
Axar eventually parted them when Dawson dragged him to deep square and made short work of the tail to leave England with a score they could not defend.
