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This was the opening match of the penultimate bilateral series sponsored by Prudential, who sponsored the World Cup the following year. It was a 55-overs-a-side match. 

England made seven changes to the eleven that lost the series in India earlier that year. Bob Willis succeeded Keith Fletcher as skipper.

Geoff Cook, Mike Gatting, Graham Gooch, John Lever, Jack Richards and Derek Underwood were replaced by Paul Allott, Graham Dilley, Geoff Miller, Derek Randall, Barry Wood and a South Africa-born debutant named Allan Lamb.

India made a couple of changes to their eleven as well. With neither Arun Lal nor Ashok Malhotra playing, the way was paved for Gundappa Viswanath's return and Ghulam Parkar's debut.

Willis won the toss, inserting the visitors, whose openers put on 30. Parkar scored 10. His 33-ball innings included a boundary. He was caught by Chris Tavare off the bowling of Willis.

Dilip Vengsarkar, who faced 26 balls, scored five. He was caught by Bob Taylor. Ian Botham broke the 24-run stand.

Sunil Gavaskar, India’s skipper, scored 38. His 61-ball innings included four boundaries. He was caught by Botham. Allott broke the four-run stand. Sandeep Patil, who faced six balls, didn’t open his account. He was caught by Taylor. Botham broke the one-run stand.

Viswanath, playing his last One-day International, scored nine. His 14-ball innings included a couple of boundaries. Botham broke the nine-run stand. The S(hastr)ixth-wicket pair put on 45. Ravi, who faced 56 balls, scored 18. His innings included a boundary. He was run out.

Yashpal Sharma scored 20. His 59-ball innings included a boundary and a six. He was caught by Taylor. Allott broke the one-run stand. Syed Kirmani, who faced 24 balls, scored 11. He was caught by Taylor off the bowling of Botham, who broke the 40-run partnership.

Suru Nayak, who faced 19 balls, scored three. He was caught by Tavare. Willis broke the 38-run stand. The last-wicket pair put on just one. Kapil Dev, who faced 37 balls, scored 60. His innings included five boundaries and three sixes. He was run out.

Madan Lal, who faced a ball, scored a run. He was unbeaten. England conceded 18 extras. India were dismissed for 193 off 55 overs.

Dilley bowled five wicketless overs, including a maiden. He conceded 20. Wood bowled seven wicketless overs, including a couple of maidens. He conceded 17. Miller bowled 10 wicketless overs, conceding 29.

Willis and Allott bowled 11 overs apiece, picking up a couple of wickets each. While the former conceded 32, the latter, whose spell included four maidens, conceded 21. Botham bowled 11 overs, conceding 56. He picked up four scalps.

Wood, the player of the match, scored 78. His 137-ball innings included four boundaries. He was unbeaten. Tavare, who faced 120 balls, scored 66. His innings included five boundaries. Lal trapped him leg before wicket, breaking the 133-run stand.

Lamb scored 35. His 50-ball innings included four boundaries. He was unbeaten. India conceded 15 extras. England scored 194 for the loss of one wicket off 50.1 overs, winning by nine wickets with 29 balls to spare.

Sharma bowled 5.1 overs, conceding 34. He was wicketless, as were Patil (who bowled seven overs, conceding 29) and Nayak (who bowled nine overs, conceding 37).

Dev bowled nine wicketless overs, including a couple of maidens. He conceded 21. Shastri bowled 11 wicketless overs, conceding 37. Lal bowled nine overs, including three maidens. He conceded 21, picking up the only wicket to fall.

England led the two-match series 1-0.