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75 overs India 136 for 2 (Yuvraj 20*, Kohli 14*) need another 190 to win against England 325 for 4 (Bell 85, Cook 75)
Gautam Gambhir's run-a-ball half-century was shamelessly reliant upon a succession of deliberate deflections © BCCI
India needed to enter unchartered territory to beat England in the opening ODI in Rajkot. They had never scored more than 325 to win a one-day international on home soil and, even if they only needed one more run than their previous highest, they knew that history as well as recent batting form was against them.
Not that the task initially seemed to trouble them. They began confidently with Ajinkya Rahane and Gautam Gambhir rarely having to extend themselves in amassing 96 in 16.4 overs in an untroubled first-wicket stand, but both got out to gentle chip shots against James Tredwell to reach the mid-point at 136. India needed another 190 runs at 7.60 per over.
Tredwell, an understudy to Graeme Swann in England's ODI side, has had only intermittent opportunities, but Swann had been rested from the series, leaving him with an opportunity to assert himself. This was only his 10th one-day international, and his first against India and neither Rahane nor Gambhir played his offspin with total conviction before he dismissed them in successive overs.
There is little striking about Tredwell's mild-mannered, unassuming approach to the crease and he would have surprised himself if he had made one turn on such a benign surface, but he tossed one up to defeat Rahane's inside-out shot and had him caught at long-off. He then deceived Gambhir in the flight to have him caught at short mid wicket.
Gambhir, with a run-a-ball 52, had been the quicker scoring of the two openers, shamelessly reliant upon a succession of deliberate deflections between gully and slip as well as turns off his hip. With 66 on the board against ten overs of inconsistent pace bowling, India began confidently but Tredwell and the debutant, Joe Root, who bowled ahead of Samit Patel and slipped in a spell of part-time offspin without mishap, just as Suresh Raina had done for India earlier in the day, dragged England back into the game.
India's highest successful run chase at home was their 325-5 to beat West Indies also in Gujarat, down the road in Ahmedabad, in 2002. Yuvraj Singh was India's sole survivor and, at halfway, a lot was still required from himself and his colleagues if India were to outlast England to go one-up in the series.
50 overs England 325 for 4 (Bell 85, Cook 75) v India
It was difficult to judge how many runs England needed to feel impregnable in the opening ODI in Rajkot. To reach 325 for 4 achieved parity, but no certainty, especially with memories of their warm-up defeat against Delhi still fresh. The India of old would have felt that this chase was in range. An India that has lost a series to Pakistan will look at it and wonder.
As serenely as Ian Bell and Alastair Cook proceeded to give England a flattering start, in an opening stand of 158 in 27.4 overs, England's most destructive batsmen, Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan, were restricted to a brace of 40s and an uninhibited final fling by Samit Patel, who made 44 not out from 20 balls as 38 came from the last two overs, was a necessary flourish.
Bell again looked so comfortable at the top of England's order in 50-over cricket that it is now hard to believe that it took him so long to settle there. There was nothing outlandish in his strokeplay, but it was a most amenable of surfaces and Bell, who had already made a hundred in England's defeat against Delhi, politely accepted its favours. His form has been a boon to England's new limited-overs coach, Ashley Giles, their productive relationship at Warwickshire when Giles was director of cricket restated at international level.
He was run out by Ajinkya Rahane, who hit direct as the batsman tried to steal a single to short fine leg and chose not to dive for the crease; Rahane also had a hand in Cook's dismissal, although on this occasion he had no need to exert himself in the same position as Cook top-edged a sweep at Suresh Raina.
Raina sneaked in five overs for 18 as England's innings slowed and with Ravindra Jadeja also bowling a relatively economical spell, India will have felt that their support bowlers achieved more than they had catered for. Others had less cause for pleasure: R Ashwin's tactic of stalling in his delivery stride, a method first employed by Robert Croft for England, was over used and disturbed his own rhythm more than the batsmen's.
To see Pietersen and Morgan joining forces at 172 for 2 in the 32nd over was unnerving for India, but both began tentatively as Ishant Sharma, for a time, varied his pace successfully - not that his final figures did much to prove it as he bowled at difficult times, conceded 20 in the penultimate over as he fed Craig Kieswetter's inside-out shots and leaked 86 as a result. Morgan, after some whip-crack flat-batting, fell to a return catch by Ashok Dinda, who fumbled and cradled the rebound and deservedly got the decision from the third umpire, Vineet Kulkarni. Pietersen lofted Dinda to long-off.
Bell had a few uneasy moments in the opening overs. On 15, he edged Bhuvneshwar Kumar between MS Dhoni and Ashwin, who was virtually stood at second slip, with both fielders motionless. It is incumbent upon a wicketkeeper-captain who sets his slip that wide at least to put a desperate dive in, but it was apparent in the Test series that Dhoni's captaincy responsibilities sometimes submerges his keeping and he remained motionless.
Bhuvneshwar had a close lbw appeal, too, in his next over, but these moments were soon distant regrets as Bell crept up the pitch surreptitiously in search of elegant drives and he reached his half-century from 60 balls with the gentlest of reverse paddles against Jadeja.
Cook was not quite as mellifluous, and had less of the strike, but he settled in against the spinners, helped by the regulation which now demands that five fielders remain within the inner circle. It is a big ask for a spin bowler to bowl to that field on such a placid pitch and the rotation in the middle overs which, to their detriment, was once such a feature of ODIs, is no longer as apparent. The game is probably better for it.
England had lost 15 matches and won one in their last three ODI tours of India, none of their thumpings any worse than the 158-run defeat at the old Madhav Rao Scindia ground five years ago when Yuvraj Singh, with an unbeaten 138, set about them.
A new stadium gave them hope of a change in fortunes. A quick glance and it might have been Lord's. The media box behind the arm was, to all intents and purposes, a replica; the gherkin no longer existing solely in north London. It will quickly ensure that the ground becomes instantly recognisable.
The Saurashtra Stadium is also characterised by a flat pitch and a glassy outfield. The Challenger Trophy, India's premier domestic one-day competition also produced five totals of 300-plus in four games at the SCA stadium in late 2012.
Gautam Gambhir's run-a-ball half-century was shamelessly reliant upon a succession of deliberate deflections © BCCI
India needed to enter unchartered territory to beat England in the opening ODI in Rajkot. They had never scored more than 325 to win a one-day international on home soil and, even if they only needed one more run than their previous highest, they knew that history as well as recent batting form was against them.
Not that the task initially seemed to trouble them. They began confidently with Ajinkya Rahane and Gautam Gambhir rarely having to extend themselves in amassing 96 in 16.4 overs in an untroubled first-wicket stand, but both got out to gentle chip shots against James Tredwell to reach the mid-point at 136. India needed another 190 runs at 7.60 per over.
Tredwell, an understudy to Graeme Swann in England's ODI side, has had only intermittent opportunities, but Swann had been rested from the series, leaving him with an opportunity to assert himself. This was only his 10th one-day international, and his first against India and neither Rahane nor Gambhir played his offspin with total conviction before he dismissed them in successive overs.
There is little striking about Tredwell's mild-mannered, unassuming approach to the crease and he would have surprised himself if he had made one turn on such a benign surface, but he tossed one up to defeat Rahane's inside-out shot and had him caught at long-off. He then deceived Gambhir in the flight to have him caught at short mid wicket.
Gambhir, with a run-a-ball 52, had been the quicker scoring of the two openers, shamelessly reliant upon a succession of deliberate deflections between gully and slip as well as turns off his hip. With 66 on the board against ten overs of inconsistent pace bowling, India began confidently but Tredwell and the debutant, Joe Root, who bowled ahead of Samit Patel and slipped in a spell of part-time offspin without mishap, just as Suresh Raina had done for India earlier in the day, dragged England back into the game.
India's highest successful run chase at home was their 325-5 to beat West Indies also in Gujarat, down the road in Ahmedabad, in 2002. Yuvraj Singh was India's sole survivor and, at halfway, a lot was still required from himself and his colleagues if India were to outlast England to go one-up in the series.
50 overs England 325 for 4 (Bell 85, Cook 75) v India
It was difficult to judge how many runs England needed to feel impregnable in the opening ODI in Rajkot. To reach 325 for 4 achieved parity, but no certainty, especially with memories of their warm-up defeat against Delhi still fresh. The India of old would have felt that this chase was in range. An India that has lost a series to Pakistan will look at it and wonder.
As serenely as Ian Bell and Alastair Cook proceeded to give England a flattering start, in an opening stand of 158 in 27.4 overs, England's most destructive batsmen, Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan, were restricted to a brace of 40s and an uninhibited final fling by Samit Patel, who made 44 not out from 20 balls as 38 came from the last two overs, was a necessary flourish.
Bell again looked so comfortable at the top of England's order in 50-over cricket that it is now hard to believe that it took him so long to settle there. There was nothing outlandish in his strokeplay, but it was a most amenable of surfaces and Bell, who had already made a hundred in England's defeat against Delhi, politely accepted its favours. His form has been a boon to England's new limited-overs coach, Ashley Giles, their productive relationship at Warwickshire when Giles was director of cricket restated at international level.
He was run out by Ajinkya Rahane, who hit direct as the batsman tried to steal a single to short fine leg and chose not to dive for the crease; Rahane also had a hand in Cook's dismissal, although on this occasion he had no need to exert himself in the same position as Cook top-edged a sweep at Suresh Raina.
Raina sneaked in five overs for 18 as England's innings slowed and with Ravindra Jadeja also bowling a relatively economical spell, India will have felt that their support bowlers achieved more than they had catered for. Others had less cause for pleasure: R Ashwin's tactic of stalling in his delivery stride, a method first employed by Robert Croft for England, was over used and disturbed his own rhythm more than the batsmen's.
To see Pietersen and Morgan joining forces at 172 for 2 in the 32nd over was unnerving for India, but both began tentatively as Ishant Sharma, for a time, varied his pace successfully - not that his final figures did much to prove it as he bowled at difficult times, conceded 20 in the penultimate over as he fed Craig Kieswetter's inside-out shots and leaked 86 as a result. Morgan, after some whip-crack flat-batting, fell to a return catch by Ashok Dinda, who fumbled and cradled the rebound and deservedly got the decision from the third umpire, Vineet Kulkarni. Pietersen lofted Dinda to long-off.
Bell had a few uneasy moments in the opening overs. On 15, he edged Bhuvneshwar Kumar between MS Dhoni and Ashwin, who was virtually stood at second slip, with both fielders motionless. It is incumbent upon a wicketkeeper-captain who sets his slip that wide at least to put a desperate dive in, but it was apparent in the Test series that Dhoni's captaincy responsibilities sometimes submerges his keeping and he remained motionless.
Bhuvneshwar had a close lbw appeal, too, in his next over, but these moments were soon distant regrets as Bell crept up the pitch surreptitiously in search of elegant drives and he reached his half-century from 60 balls with the gentlest of reverse paddles against Jadeja.
Cook was not quite as mellifluous, and had less of the strike, but he settled in against the spinners, helped by the regulation which now demands that five fielders remain within the inner circle. It is a big ask for a spin bowler to bowl to that field on such a placid pitch and the rotation in the middle overs which, to their detriment, was once such a feature of ODIs, is no longer as apparent. The game is probably better for it.
England had lost 15 matches and won one in their last three ODI tours of India, none of their thumpings any worse than the 158-run defeat at the old Madhav Rao Scindia ground five years ago when Yuvraj Singh, with an unbeaten 138, set about them.
A new stadium gave them hope of a change in fortunes. A quick glance and it might have been Lord's. The media box behind the arm was, to all intents and purposes, a replica; the gherkin no longer existing solely in north London. It will quickly ensure that the ground becomes instantly recognisable.
The Saurashtra Stadium is also characterised by a flat pitch and a glassy outfield. The Challenger Trophy, India's premier domestic one-day competition also produced five totals of 300-plus in four games at the SCA stadium in late 2012.