India took a 3-0 lead in the seven-match one-day series with England in Kanpur on Thursday after Harbhajan Singh squeezed England’s batsmen with his off-spin.

India won comfortably by 16 runs on the so-called Duckworth-Lewis method as bad light descended and prevented a ‘proper’ finish. England managed just 240, bowled out two balls short of their allotted 49 overs, on a pitch that should have witnessed a more testing total for the Indians.

The home team reached 198-5 with nine overs left. Even a missed stumping by Matt Prior to Kevin Pietersen’s off-spin would probably have been irrelevant had he taken it as play was called off after that over.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, unbeaten on 28 after Virender Sehwag made 68 and Yuvraj Singh 38, needs another victory at Bangalore on Sunday to take an unbeatable lead in the series and ensure they head into the two-Test series next month on top.

Harbhajan had been a constant thorn in the side of the Australians when India won the recent Test series and he showed his craft again with figures of 3-31 from ten overs.

His array of ripping off-spinners, top-spinners and the odd doosra often bamboozled England’s batsmen, though top scorer and new opener Ravi Bopara did pick him well in his innings of 60. He fell to an unplayable turner from Yuvraj that caused him to play inside the ball and fall to a stumping.

Andrew Flintoff’s burst of three wickets (for 31 from nine overs) gave England brief hope in India’s reply, especially after a stunning catch by Paul Collingwood above his head at point to make it 125-4, but India then kicked on through Dhoni and Yuvraj.