Reuters
 
New Delhi, Oct 16: Indian skipper Rahul Dravid was relieved on Sunday after his bowlers set up a four-wicket victory over England in their Champions Trophy opener.

India were desperate to halt a slump in one-day form after losing 4-1 in West Indies and then flopping in last month's one-day tri-series in Malaysia, which was won by Australia.

Pacemen Munaf Patel and Irfan Pathan tore through the top order to skittle England for 125, their lowest score against India in the opening Group A tie.

The home team made heavy weather of the chase before reaching 126 for six in a group also featuring world champions Australia and holders West Indies.

Dravid said: "This is the first match and we're confident we will perform well from here on.

"We'll take the confidence we got, the kind of performance we put in with the ball and in the field. Probably, we lost a couple of wickets too many in the end."

He added: "Just the way we played, coming into the tournament, coming in with a bit of pressure - I thought we responded well to it.

Dravid was pleased with the performances of left-armer Pathan and off spinner Ramesh Powar, who took 3-24.

The 21-year-old Pathan had been struggling for his bowling rhythm since the West Indies tour in May-July.

He took two for 20 and dismissed skipper Andrew Flintoff for a duck after Dravid elected to bowl first.

"He is a proven match-winner for us," Dravid said. "He takes wickets early."

The 28-year-old Powar troubled England as he had during their 5-1 series defeat in India in April, teaming up with fellow off spinner Harbhajan Singh.

"He and Harbhajan kept the pressure on after Munaf and Irfan bowled great opening spells to set the game up for us."

Patel, named man-of-the-match, attributed his success to changing the focus from pace since making his India debut against England early this year.

"I used to concentrate of bowling fast, but coach Greg Chappell impressed on me the value of line and length," he said.