
It was very close to England's worst one-day defeat in terms of runs as India won the first game of the seven-match series by 158 runs here in Rajkot on Friday.
Yuvraj Singh smashed an unbeaten 138 off 78 balls to lift India to their second highest one-day total of 387-5 after being being ruled out for Test Series against Australia.
England could reply 229 in perfect batting conditions despite a classy 63 from skipper Kevin Pietersen and Ravi Bopara's unbeaten 54 off 38 balls lower down the order.
The tourists were in danger of falling below their heaviest-ever loss total before Bopara's late charge, which included five sixes and two fours, saved Pietersen's men the blushes.
It was India's highest total against a test playing cricketing nation -- they made 376-2 against New Zealand in 1999 -- although their best ever is 413-5 against Bermuda at the 2007 World Cup.
"At the end of the day when you stand up and watch innings like the ones Yuvraj, Sehwag and Gambhir played, you just have to say: well played guys," said Pietersen.
"The pitch was a perfect batting beauty. They played superb cricket today, but we have to regroup and sort things out. There are six games still left in the series."
Dhoni said the huge scores posted by his players made victory easier.
"It was a great start given by Sehwag, Gambhir and Raina, and Yuvraj was just fantastic," the Indian captain said.
"That kind of innings by Yuvraj just takes you through. And after those early wickets, we knew the game was ours" and why not that was almost impossible target.
"These have been a hard couple of months, but this was one of my best innings because I carried on till the end," said the left-hander on asking by Ravi.
"I pulled a muscle in my back but luckily I had Gambhir running for me. I will try to get fit for the next game in Indore on Monday."
England have twice lost by 165 runs, once to the West Indies in 1994 and again to Pakistan in 2005. They were beaten by 162 runs by Australia in 1999.
India, who stunned world champions Australia 2-0 in a Test series on Monday, switched quickly to the one-day mode to reduce England to 38-4 by the 11th over.
Left-handed Yuvraj, who batted with a runner because of a back injury in the early part of his innings, hammered 16 boundaries and six sixes in his ninth one-day century.




