Brandon bowler Tymal Mills had a debut to remember for England as he helped himself to a wicket in a seven-wicket win over India.

Mills turned in matching figures of 4-0-27-1 on a day when skipper Eoin Morgan saluted his contribution as 'outstanding' as England kicked off the Twenty20 series in Kanpur.

Morgan's side spoiled the Republic Day party at a teeming Green Park, easing to a seven-wicket win with 11 balls to spare as they flexed their muscles with bat and ball.

After being trounced 4-0 in the Tests before Christmas and beaten 2-1 in the 50-over leg, England finally put their best foot forward at the start of a series by coasting to a modest victory target of 148.

In Morgan (51) and Joe Root (46 not out) they had the game's two outstanding batsmen. Newly-arrived seamers Mills and Chris Jordan won the new-ball battle handsomely and, in Moeen Ali's career-best two for 21, they had probably the game's decisive contribution.

Morgan is typically a stickler for marginal gains, but here he was almost entirely serene.

'I think it was a pretty complete performance, certainly as complete as we've produced on this trip,' he said.

'I thought the bowlers were outstanding. Everyone within the unit produced exactly what we talked about in executing our plans.

'To win the toss and bowl always puts a bit of extra pressure on the bowlers to produce, especially bowling at a guy like Virat Kohli first up, and I thought we handled that really well.

'Tymal and Chris, coming into the side pretty fresh, showed exactly why they're selected for the first game of the series – they were outstanding.

'Moeen Ali was the glue in the middle. He nailed his basics and was a big factor in the game.

'To reinforce the fact that the things we're doing work and get results is huge for confidence in the side.'

India captain Virat Kohli has become well used to toasting wins over England in recent months but was happy to accept the tourists as worthy winners on this occasion.

'They were playing freely – you could see it in the body language,' he said. 'They showed character and they deserved to win. They were better with the ball.'