Images: Parthiv lights up the dull day

India's quest for a morale-boosting victory was dashed after persistent rain forced abandonment of their first cricket One-dayer against England after the visitors found themselves in a comfortable position.

- Scorecard / Match report

India had made 274 for seven, riding mainly on opening batsman Parthiv Patel's fluent 95, after being put into bat and had reduced England to 27 for two from 7.2 overs before the rain came and no further play was possible.

Twice it appeared the rain had relented and play after all would be possible as England, under revised targets, were first asked to make 224 from 32 overs and later 164 from 20 overs. On both occasions, rain came again to make the restart impossible.

The umpires finally called off the match at 5:30pm local time (10pm IST), two and half hours after rain stopped play.

It was a spirited performance from the visitors who missed Sachin Tendulkar at the start of the day and middle-order bat Rohit Sharma in the middle of their innings.

Both setbacks were on account of injuries as Tendulkar pulled out due to an inflamed right toe and Rohit had his right index finger jammed by a rising delivery from Stuart Broad in the 38th over of the Indian innings.

India began the defence of their competitive total in superb fashion with Praveen Kumar accounting for both the openers, skipper Alastair Cook (4) and Craig Kieswetter (6).

The two new ball bowlers, Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar, made run-making an arduous task for England batsmen who had made only 27 from 7.2 overs before rain chose to have the final say.

Both the sides now moved on to Southampton for the second game of the five-match ODI series on September 6.

Earlier, Parthiv struck a fluent 95 to steer India to a competitive 274 for seven after they were put into bat in overcast conditions.

Patel, his highest ODI score, shared two productive stands of 82 and 103 runs for the first and second wickets with ODI debutant and opener Ajinkya Rahane (40) and Virat Kohli (55).

Patel manipulated the field cleverly and showed a penchant for pulling anything short as England toiled to make any effect on a featherbed of a wicket at Riverside Park.

But for a dropped chance at point off Tim Bresnan when on eight, Patel batted without nerves, facing 107 deliveries and hitting 12 fours, most of them on the onside.

The Indians began slowly with 22 runs from the first six overs but once they had their eyes in, the two openers unfurled some attractive strokes.

Rahane, who made such a fine impression in the one-off Twenty20 International earlier this week, batted with similar aplomb as he cracked 40 off 44 balls with six fours.

The Mumbai batsman played pulls and lofted strokes against England pacemen and also drove well as he showed fine technique and temperament.

James Anderson bowled tightly for his seven overs, conceding 28 runs, but the rest of the bowlers made little impression on Indian openers.

However, England made two strikes in quick succession to send back Rahane and Rahul Dravid (2), who again fell prey to a controversial decision.

The decision of Rahane's dismissal was a straightforward one as the right-hander pulled Broad into the hands of fine leg fielder.

Dravid's dismissal, however, was contentious as he was given out caught behind the stumps on a referral even as hot spot did not show any contact with the bat and ball.

The 100th of the Indian innings was brought up in the 22nd over and Patel was soon past his previous best score of 56, made against New Zealand in Chennai last year.

The middle overs were period of consolidation as England brought on left-arm spin of Samit Patel from one end and part-timer Jonathan Trott bowled a few overs of medium pace.

England clawed back into the game with two wickets in 13 balls as well as a batsman sent back injured to the pavilion -- in the form of Rohit Sharma without scoring.

In the 38th over when James Anderson, recalled for his second spell, had Patel caught behind the wicket and in the next over, Stuart Broad rapped Rohit on his right index finger forcing the right-hander to retire hurt.

Anderson's success, in the form of Patel's wicket, was his 200th wicket in 148 ODIs. England removed Virat Kohli in the 40th over when the right-hander rocked back on his heels to cut the left-arm spin of Samit Patel and was clean bowled.

Kohli made 55 off 73 balls with four fours and India were 207 for four at the end of the 40th over. In the next four overs, 25 runs were raised between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina, the latter once stroking a belligerent six over mid-on off Broad.

The Indians opted for batting powerplay in the 45th over and it immediately paid dividends as Raina swung Jade Dernbach high beyond the backward square leg stands. Raina departed in the 49th over, making 38 off 29 balls with two fours and two sixes, putting on 60 off 54  balls for the fifth wicket with Dhoni (33).

The batting powerplay yielded 38 runs for the loss of Raina's wicket.