For England white-ball captain Harry Brook, this series against the strongest limited-overs team in the world is another chance to prove himself as Stokes’ successor.
On Tuesday, Brook said he would accept the Test captaincy if offered and believes it is possible to captain all three of England’s teams simultaneously.
On the field, in a repeat of a World Cup semi-final from earlier this year that India won, the visitors once again overlooked 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi despite a shock 2-0 series defeat in Ireland last week.
After winning the toss, India lost Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan in the second over. Samson was superbly caught by a flying Tom Banton off Saqib Mahmood, while Kishan was run out in a mix-up with Abhishek Sharma.
Abhishek made amends with some brutal striking in his 59 from 24 balls – one Mahmood over went for 21, including two pulled sixes.
Just as India were threatening to cause chaos, Sam Curran was introduced and had Sharma leg before with a clever slower ball. It gave England’s spinners the opportunity to control the scoring.
India captain Shreyas Iyer was patient and, helped by Shivam Dube, provided impetus at the end.
India took 64 off the last six overs, exposing the wisdom of England giving the 17th and 19th to leg-spinner Adil Rashid. Shreyas made 68 from 47, Dube 42 not out off 21, including a huge pulled six off Curran in the last over.
The total seemed around par, setting up the possibility of an exciting contest, only for the rain to have the final say.
