England bowlers led by David Willey kept India down to 229-9 despite skipper Rohit Sharma's 87 in a must-win World Cup match for the defending champions on Sunday.

Willey, a left-arm quick, returned figures of 3-45, including the prized wicket of Virat Kohli for a nine-ball duck, after England elected to bowl at Lucknow in search of a victory to cling on to their slim hopes of making the semi-finals.

Fast bowler Chris Woakes and leg-spinner Adil Rashid picked up two wickets each and a spirited performance by the fielders, who threw themselves around to stop runs, made England look a like a different side.

The 2019 champions sit bottom of the 10-team table with four defeats from five matches.

Suryakumar Yadav made a fighting 49 before becoming Willey's third wicket but the tail played out the full 50 overs.

The unbeaten hosts lost three early wickets to slip to 40-3 before Rohit steadied the innings and attempted to hit back in a 91-run stand with KL Rahul, who made 39.

Rohit survived a reprieve on 33 when he was given out lbw off Mark Wood but the opener reviewed the decision in his favour with tracking showing the ball would have missed the leg stump.

Rohit reached his second fifty of the tournament -- he also hit a century against Afghanistan -- to the noisy delight of the nearly-packed 50,000-seater stadium.

Rohit and Rahul, who was returning to his IPL home ground where he suffered a serious unjury earlier this year, kept the score ticking before Willey broke the stand with Rahul's wicket.

Rohit kept up the fight but fell to Adil Rashid's leg spin after he holed out to deep mid-wicket where Liam Livingstone took a low catch.

The fielder, however, injured his knee after his leg jarred in the surface. Livingstone got back on his feet after getting medical attention.

Kohli, who endured his 16th duck in ODIs, remains one century away from equalling all-time great Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 hundreds in the 50-over format.

Former captain Kohli has been in good form at this World Cup, scoring 354 runs in six matches.

Woakes struck first as he bowled opener Shubman Gill for nine in the fourth over and soon grabbed one more to send Shreyas Iyer back to the pavilion for four.

Brief scores: India 229-9 in 50 overs (R. Sharma 87, S. Yadav 49; D. Willey 3-45)