Group B, Durban: India 250-9 (50 overs) beat England 168 all-out (45.3 overs)
Ashish Nehra put in a dazzling bowling display to help India win their crunch Group A game against England by 82 runs.
The paceman took six wickets during a record-breaking spell to take full advantage of a ball that swung wildly under the lights at Durban.
And only Andrew Flintoff had any answer as England crumbled to a sorry score of 168 all-out.
Nehra recorded the third-best bowling analysis in World Cup history, finishing with 6-23 after removing Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart with consecutive balls.
Earlier, Flintoff had led a spirited England fight-back to restrict India to 250-9 when a far larger total looked likely.
Sachin Tendulkar, in particular, threatened to run riot, flashing boundaries to all parts of the ground.
But Flintoff stepped up and produced an inspired 10-over spell, returning figures of 2-15 after James Anderson and Andrew Caddick had been blasted out of the attack.
With the removal of Tendulkar for 50 came England hope, but that faded when a quick-fire partnership between Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh helped India to reach 250.
By then, the ball was moving around enough to suggest that future bastmen would have difficulties.
And so it proved.
Caddick - who had his most expensive one-day outing ever - claimed the wickets of Mohammad Kaif and Dravid with successive balls.
And Alec Stewart wrapped up a team hat-trick with a run-out, before Javagal Srinath incredibly became the fourth wicket to fall in as many deliveries.
When England's turn to bat arrived, the omens were already bad.
Tendukar was in great touch
But Nick Knight and Marcus Trescothick contributed to their own downfall, surrendering their wickets carelessly when occupancy of the crease was of paramount importance.
Hussain and Michael Vaughan did well to survive a flurry of unplayable deliveries from Zaheer Khan and Srinath.
But they were among Nehra's victims when India's surprise hero came into the attack to spark an irreversible collapse.
England's man of the match Flintoff carried the fight admirably, smiting sixes and setting a record ninth-wicket partnership with Caddick in an attempt to get the run chase back on track.
But even his big-hitting heroics proved too little too late and when he fell to Srinath for 64, the game was up.
England must now beat Australia on Sunday to progress to the Super Six stage.
England: Marcus Trescothick, Nick Knight, Michael Vaughan, Nasser
Hussain (captain), Paul Collingwood, Alec Stewart, Andrew
Flintoff, Craig White, Ronnie Irani, Andrew Caddick, James
India: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly
(captain), Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Dinesh
Mongia, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Ashish
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (SA), Simon Taufel (Aus).