Kanpur, Nov. 20 : India made heavy work of an under-par England total in the first evenly-contested match between the two sides at Kanpur''s Green Park Stadium on Thursday during the third one-day international.

But the hosts edged ahead thanks to a superior run rate under the Duckworth-Lewis method when bad light curtailed their chase after 40 overs.

India were asked to chase a victory target of 241 runs, and ended up scoring 198/5 in 40 overs when play was called off due to bad light. According to the D/L method, India needed to be 183/5 after 40 overs.

The Indians were served well by openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, who came up with an opening partnership of 31 runs. Gambhir was dismissed for 14 by England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff. Soon after, Uttar Pradesh batsman Suresh Raina edged a Stuart Broad delivery onto his stumps with his individual score at one.

Flintoff snared Sehwag, but not before he had top scored with 68 with eight hits to the fence and a towering six. Those runs came off just 76 balls and it was his 31st half-century in one-day internationals.

Mumbai''s Rohit Sharma scored 28 with three hits to the fence before he was caught behind. Yuvraj Singh, who was England''s nemesis in the previous two one-day internationals, scored a brisk 38 before he was snared by Flintoff, the latter getting his thrid wicket of the match.

Yuvraj mistimed a pull shot to deep square leg for Broad to take the catch and end his 52-run partnership with his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Yuvraj hit 2 fours and a six in his 31-ball knock.

Dhoni (29) and Yusuf Pathan (12) remained unbeaten and kept India in the hunt for a third consecutive victory till the end. (ANI)