India's star batsman Virat Kohli fell for a nine-ball duck as England's fast bowlers struck early blows in their must-win World Cup clash on Sunday.

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

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 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 got one more to send Shreyas Iyer (four) back to the pavilion for four as India slipped to 40-3 in 12 overs.

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