Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel smashed half-centuries as India defeated England by four wickets in the opening one-day international on Thursday and took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series that is a warmup for the Champions Trophy.

England tumble 1-0 down in three-match ODI series after slipping from 75-0 to 248 all out batting first; India punish some predictable bowling to reach target in 38.4 overs after late wobble; teams building for Champions Trophy,

India went into the match without the talismanic Virat Kohli, who was unavailable because of a sore right knee, and at that juncture losing Yashasvi Jaiswal (15) and Rohit Sharma (2) cheaply was a recipe for disaster. But Gill batted sensibly and with Iyer playing a counter-attacking innings, helped India to safety.