India's left-arm bowler Zaheer Khan dismissed Owais Shah for 72 and fast bowler Ishant Sharma sent back Andrew Flintoff for 41 in successive overs in the final powerplay to derail England's spectacular chase of a revised target of 198 runs.
The pair had put on 82 off 48 balls for the fourth wicket after a slow start by the tourists.
Put in to bat in overcast conditions, India made 166 for four in the allotted 22 overs after the innings was twice interrupted by rain.
Virender Sehwag smashed a brisk half-century. The aggressive opener hit three sixes and nine fours in his 57-ball 69 in a match reduced to 22-overs-a-side due to rain interruptions. He also completed 6,000 runs during his 32nd half-century in One-day Internationals.
Sehwag received valuable support from Gautam Gambhir, who made a 37-ball 40 with the help of seven fours. The pair added 79 for the second wicket after the dismissal of ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar in the eighth over.
India, put in to bat, suffered a setback when Tendulkar was bowled by fast bowler Stuart Broad after contributing just 11 runs in his first one-day match in eight months.
But there was no stopping Sehwag, who dominated the England attack with a wide range of attacking shots. He punished paceman James Anderson early in his innings, hitting two fours and one six in one over.
Sehwag fell playing shots, caught by Anderson at long-on while attempting a big shot off spinner Graeme Swann after a second rain interruption.
Yuvraj Singh made an 11-ball 25 not out with three sixes, including two in one over of skipper Kevin Pietersen, as India plundered 60 in the last five overs.
The fifth one-dayer will be played at Cuttack on Wednesday.
Scoreboard
INDIA:
V. Sehwag c Anderson b Swann 69
S.R. Tendulkar b Broad 11
G. Gambhir c Anderson b Swann 40
Yuvraj Singh not out 25
M.S. Dhoni b Patel 9
Y. Pathan not out 6
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-4) 6
TOTAL (for four wkts, 22 overs) 166
FALL OF WKTS: 1-38, 2-117, 3-142, 4-160.
DID NOT BAT: S.K. Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, I. Sharma, M.M. Patel.
BOWLING: Anderson 5-0-33-0 (1w); Broad 6-1-49-1; Flintoff 5-0-20-0 (2w); Patel 3-0-24-1; Swann 2-0-21-2; Pietersen 1-0-17-0 (1w).
ENGLAND:
R.S. Bopara c Sharma b Patel 1
I.R. Bell b Harbhajan 12
O.A. Shah c Tendulkar b Zaheer 72
K.P. Pietersen b Sharma 5
A. Flintoff c Zaheer b Sharma 41
P.D. Collingwood c Tendulkar b Patel 22
S.R. Patel c Gambhir b Zaheer 11
G.P. Swann run out 5
M.J. Prior not out 0
S.C.J. Broad not out 0
EXTRAS (B-3, LB-2, W-3, NB-1) 9
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 22 overs) 178
FALL OF WKTS: 1-1, 2-44, 3-52, 4-134, 5-141, 6-161, 7-178, 8-178.
DID NOT BAT: J.M. Anderson.
BOWLING: Zaheer Khan 5-0-20-2; Patel 4-1-22-2 (1w); Sharma 5-0-41-2 (1nb, 1w); Pathan 1-0-17-0; Harbhajan Singh 4-0-42-1; Yuvraj Singh 3-0-31-0 (1w).
RESULT: India won by 19 runs under D/L Method (England’s target was revised to 198 off 22 overs).
UMPIRES: A.M. Saheba (India) and D.J. Harper (Australia).
TV UMPIRE: S.K. Tarapore (India).
MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Mahanama (Sri Lanka).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Virender Sehwag.
NEXT MATCH: Cuttack (D/N), Nov 26.
—Agencies