Chandigarh, July 17 -- England failed to take advantage of the good batting conditions at Rose Bowl, Southampton and ended up putting up only 258/6 after choosing to bat against India in the first women's ODI on Wednesday. India, the T20I series winners, will be happy with how their bowlers didn't loosen the grip they took very early. It was once again the in-form Sophia Dunkley, who shone in the T20s, who delivered. The birthday girl top-scored with 83 off 92 balls to take the hosts past the 250-run mark. However, the hosts will be disappointed not to touch 300 in conditions that appeared helpful for batting. At the time of going to press, India were 126/4 in 28 overs. The visitors suffered an early loss of opener Smriti Mandhana. Harleen Deol and Pratika Rawal then had a partnership before the latter perished. Deol was needlessly run out while captain Harmanpreet Kaur also didn't last long. England, who were bolstered by the comeback of skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt after she suffered groin injury during the T20Is, were in trouble with the scoreboard reading 97/4. And it was Dunkley and Alice Davidson-Richards (53 off 73) with a solid partnership of 106 runs that revived the hosts' faltering innings. India's 21-year-old pacer Kranti Goud struck the early blows, removing Tammy Beaumont (5) and Amy Jones (1) to put the team on top. She dismissed Jones with her second delivery for her first ODI wicket, before removing Beaumont in her next over. Sciver-Brunt (41 off 52) and Emma Lamb (39 off 50) added 91 runs for the third wicket. Experienced off-spinner Sneh Rana removed them in quick succession to give India a lift. England to some time to rebuild from there. Later, Sophie Ecclestone, who made a return to the England setup after missing the ODI series against West Indies earlier in the summer due to an injury, made an unbeaten 23 off 19 balls. Dunkley, who hit nine fours, fell in the last over to seamer Amanjot Kaur. England's total would have been much more against a batting heavy India side. India relied heavily on the spinners. Left-arm spinner Shree Charani took Davidson-Richards' wicket while Rana was the pick of the bowlers, taking two wickets for 31 runs. Brief scores: England 258/6 in 50 overs (Sophia Dunkley 83, Alice Davidson-Richards 53, Nat Sciver-Brunt 41, Kranti Goud 2/55, Sneh Rana 2/31)....