Nagpur/IBNS, Feb. 7 -- Shreyas Iyer played a crucial role beside Shubman Gill's heroics in India's comfortable victory over England in the first One Day International (ODI) in Nagpur on Thursday.

In a match where star batter Virat Kohli was missing, Iyer came out to bat at a challenging time when the home team were struggling at 19-2.

Contrary to what was widely assumed, it was Iyer who replaced Kohli who missed the first ODI due to a sore knee.

Though it was assumed that Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made his ODI debut on Thursday, replaced Kohli, Iyer revealed a different story.

Chasing 249, India lost early wickets in the form of Yashasvi Jaiswal (15) and skipper Rohit Sharma (2) but Gill (87 from 96 balls) was joined by Shreyas Iyer, who ...