Ajinkya Rahane's maiden ton helps India beat England

India's opener, Ajinkya Rahane, scored his maiden ODI century to help his side convincingly beat England by nine wickets in the fourth ODI at Edgbaston on Tuesday.

England batted first, after Alastair Cook lost the toss, on a pitch that had enough moisture to trouble the batsmen. England were soon reduced to 23 for three in the first eight overs, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami doing most of the damage.

Joe Root and Eoin Morgan stemmed the fall of wickets with an 80-run stand for the fourth wicket but Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja dismissed the duo just when they looked like getting their side back into the contest. England struggled at 114 for 5 in 33 overs.

Moeen Ali, England's top-scorer, helped his side pass the 200-run mark with a quick-fire 67 runs from just 50 balls. But apart from Ali, all other England batsmen struggled. The hosts failed to play out their full quota of overs and crumbled to 207 runs in just 49.3 overs.

India's openers, Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan, managed just three runs from the first three overs, but then they switched gears. Rahane clobbered James Anderson for four boundaries in the fifth over. Dhawan followed Rahane's lead and pierced the field regularly as well. The duo hit 11 fours in the first ten overs.

Rahane slog-swept Ali for a huge six in the 18th over to reach his 50. The right-hander continued his onslaught even after he reached the milestone. He smashed two more sixes and three fours to reach his first three-figure score in ODI's.

He was finally dismissed by Harry Gurney, for 106 runs, with India just 29 runs away from the target. Dhawan, who has struggled for form on the tour, finally came good and remained not out on 97 in the end.

"Feels really great when you get a 100 and the team wins. Credit goes to the bowlers as well for setting up the match. I was batting well after the first few games and I was focusing to stay there. Really happy for Dhawan, the way he batted was special. We just wanted to enjoy the game. It's a great challenge to open, you have to prepare your mind," Rahane said.