Play was abandoned at 1615 BST

Rain denied India valuable batting practice as their match against England Lions was abandoned with the tourists on 32-0, chasing a target of 297.

Robin Uthappa was 12 not out and Sourav Ganguly was unbeaten on 18 when the weather intervened after 6.5 overs.

Half centuries by Vikram Solanki and Luke Wright set up England after India skipper Mahendra Dhoni chose to field.

Off-spinner Ramesh Powar took three wickets before the lower order boosted the total as the Lions reached 296-8.

Captain Solanki made 60 and Wright showed the form that won him a place in England's World Twenty20 squad with 56 off 40 balls.

Of the forthcoming seven-match one-day series, Dhoni said: "I think it's going to be a good series because England are a good side, and performing well against them is always going to be a good challenge for us."

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The wicket-keeper, captaining in Rahul Dravid's absence, added: "Naturally, we were disappointed that the batsmen did not get a chance (because of the rain). But we have some good batsmen and that will show in the one-day series."

Darren Maddy's was the first wicket to fall when he chipped Ajit Agarkar to Munaf Patel at mid-on for five.

Solanki was hit by a Zaheer Khan bouncer in the next over but after that he and Wright cruised along at a run a ball, until the latter attempted to flick a Powar delivery off his legs but edged to Dhoni.

Power then had Ian Bell (21) caught by Agarkar and had Owais Shah (1) lbw before Solanki was trapped lbw by Piyush Chawla as the Lions lost three wickets for five runs.

Solanki hit six boundaries in his innings of 60

Ravi Bopara (37) and wicket-keeper Paul Nixon (39) led the recovery before Nixon walked following a stumping appeal, while Bopara's careful innings came to an end when he top-edged to point.

Chris Schofield (35) and Tim Bresnan (32 not out) then scored at more than a run a ball to set India an imposing victory target of 297.

Solanki was delighted with his team's batting performance, saying: "There are a lot of new faces and it's great to see them come in straight away and feel comfortable when they're playing against international teams.

"It was a pleasure batting with Wright. We've got some great young players coming through and hopefully they take their chance if and when it comes along.