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England get another taste of fearless India

New format, same result as Kohli continues to build his reputation as the greatest ODI batsman of all

The red ball made way for a white ball and the white clothing changed to colour.

There was even a different captain and an imposing 350 runs on the board to defend.

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But as England soon found out, little had changed from the preceding Test series before Christmas as Virat Kohli once again stood in the way to hand the tourists another morale-crushing defeat.

India's three-wicket win in the first One-Day International in Pune on a rousing Sunday night was as destructive as the 4-0 rout of England by Kohli's men in the Tests.

The fearless brand of cricket India played during the Test series was evident again in the shorter version, masterminded once more by Kohli in his first outing as a full-time captain across all formats.

Just as Alastair Cook had watched the Tests slip away from his grasp, one-day captain Eoin Morgan could do little to stop a certain victory turn to an inglorious defeat.

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Having reduced India to 4-63 by the 12th over chasing 351 to win, England were left shell-shocked as Kohli engineered a dramatic turnaround in the company of the unheralded Kedar Jadhav.

The pair added 200 for the fifth wicket with Kohli making an imperious 122 off 105 balls and Jadhav smashing a 76-ball 120 on his home ground in Pune.

Kohli's 27th ODI century was his 17th when chasing a target, 15 of which have ended up securing wins for his team.

There is no better finisher in world cricket today.

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But it was Jadhav, a short and stocky 31-year-old, who stole the show as he matched his captain in audacious strokeplay despite being hampered by cramps in the latter part of his innings.

"Kedar was simply outstanding," Kohli said of Jadhav, who was named man of the match for his devastating knock that contained four sixes and 12 boundaries.

"He played proper, clean shots, he didn't slog even once. Just brilliant. To have another guy who was willing to believe that we could win from any situation was a boost for me as well."

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Jadhav, whose highest score in the five-match series against New Zealand earlier this season was 41, was encouraged by Kohli to forget the past and prove his mettle in the middle.

"He was disappointed for not having scored much in the previous series," said Kohli. "So I told him the best place where he could learn was out in the middle.

"There was no point sitting outside and thinking what he could have done. I told him to push himself a little more and then he would understand how he could do it again and again."

Kohli said the double-century partnership with Jadhav was one of the best he had been part of.

"We had chased down 350 twice before but this was special for me and will stay in my memory for a long time," he added.

"We spoke about how we could tackle that situation and that was to counter-attack. I don't think any of the wickets we lost previously were due to good balls, but mostly due to errors we committed.

"The wicket was even better to bat on in the second innings than in the first. So we decided we should play percentage cricket and take calculated risks."

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Kohli said the win was another example of the confidence his fearless team had to overcome any obstacle.

"We believed we could come back from any situation in the Test series and this was the same in the ODI," the India captain said.

"All the 11 guys felt we could do something special. This was another scenario of us believing we could win more than the opposition."

Morgan conceded the loss after posting their highest ODI total on Indian soil had hurt his team.

"It hurts more because we had them four down early and we were right into the middle order even though Virat was still in," said Morgan.

"When you score 350 you expect to have played well but we were not at our best which sums up the conditions. The pitch was really good and the boundaries were small."

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If England's batting was destructive, their bowling lacked the firepower with off-spinner Moeen Ali conceding 48 runs in 6.1 wicketless overs and spin partner Adil Rashid going for 0-50 in five overs.

Morgan, however, remained confident England will come back strongly in the second ODI in Cuttack on Thursday night.

"There are some positives from this game," he said. "We took four early wickets which is tough in the subcontinent. Taking early wickets is something we've always struggled to do in the past.

"You look at any team around the world, 300 seems par nowadays. It means you have to go run-a-ball. You just have to try and do something different."