England humbled again
England slumped to one of their heaviest defeats in a one-day international after being trounced by 158 runs against India in Friday's opener to the seven-match series.
Chasing India's daunting total of 387 for five after Yuvraj Singh hit a brilliant 138 off only 78 balls, England were dismissed for 229 despite Kevin Pietersen's battling 63 and a half-century from Ravi Bopara.
India's score was their highest total in a ODI against a Test-playing country and the most England have ever conceded, beating the 353 for six recorded by Pakistan at Karachi three years ago.
England lost four wickets inside the first 11 overs of their reply, with Matt Prior and Owais Shah both edging to slip before Ian Bell edged behind for a determined 25.
Zaheer Khan claimed his third victim by winning an lbw appeal against all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, despite the ball pitching outside leg stump, while Paul Collingwood was caught behind off left-arm seamer RP Singh.
Samit Patel delivered a spirited 28 but was stumped attempting to push forward to Harbhajan Singh, and England's unlikely hopes of claiming a victory were virtually ended by Pietersen being run out when Bopara pushed for a single to Rohit Sharma at cover.
Yuvraj had earlier dominated India's innings with his amazing display, which included 15 fours and six sixes - despite batting with a runner for a bad back for the majority of his innings.
His efforts helped India add 124 off the final 10 overs and maintain their momentum following their Test series success over Australia.
Before Yuvraj's onslaught, openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag had built the foundations with a superb stand of 127 in only 19.5 overs, which set the tone for the innings.
