LUCKNOW, India, Oct 29, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Skipper Rohit Sharma hit a fifty after India lost three early wickets including Virat Kohli for a nine-ball duck against defending champions England in their World Cup clash on Sunday.

Left-arm quick David Willey claimed the prized scalp of Kohli who played a loose shot to be caught at mid-off by Ben Stokes and walked off to stunned silence at Lucknow's Ekana Stadium.

The unbeaten hosts lost two more wickets to slip to 40-3 before Rohit reached his second fifty of the tournament -- he also hit a century against Afghanistan -- and attempted to steady the innings with KL Rahul.

Rohit survived a reprieve on 33 when he was given out lbw off Mark Wood but the opener reviewed the decision in his favour with tracking showing the ball would have missed leg stump.

He reached his fifty in 66 balls and took India to 89-3 in 24 overs.

Meanwhile Kohli remains one century away from equalling all-time great Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI hundreds.

Former captain Kohli has been in good form at this 50-over showpiece, hitting a match-winning 95 against New Zealand last week.

He started by scoring 85 in India's opening match against Australia and followed it up with a 55 not out (Afghanistan), 16 (Pakistan), 103 not out (Bangladesh).

Sunday's duck was his 16th in ODIs in his 275th innings.

Kohli has scored 13,437 ODI runs at an average of over 58 since his debut in 2008.

Chris Woakes bowled opener Shubman Gill for nine in the fourth over after England, who sit bottom of the 10-team table, elected to bowl in their bid for victory and keep their slim hopes alive of making the semi-finals.

Woakes gabbed one more to send Shreyas Iyer back to the pavilion for four.