RCA President’s XI batsman Mohammed Kaif en route to his unbeaten 119 at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur on Saturday. (AFP)

Jaipur: Mohammed Kaif slammed an unbeaten 119 as RCA President’s XI pulled off a five-run win in the practice match against England to seize back some of the initiative for the hosts ahead of the seven-match ODI series.

Put in to bat, the hosts made a competitive 260 for 6 in 50 overs before bowling out the visitors for 255 in 49.5 overs for a thrilling finish at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium.

Kaif hit 10 fours in his 136-ball knock before spinners ? Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar ? entrapped Vikram Solanki’s men in a spin web.

Ian Bell made a fine 71 and wicketkeeper Matt Prior stroked 51 but the tendency of the English side, playing without their key players, to lose wickets at regular intervals meant they were left with a stiff run chase at the death.

Needing 25 runs in the final over, Kabir Ali hit a six and a four off Chawla but at the other end Gareth Batty holed out to Rudra Pratap Singh and James Anderson was run out with just one ball to spare.

The slow bowlers did the trick for India while Suresh Raina’s allround contribution also played a crucial role in shaping the RCA win. Raina, who made a quickfire 49 off 46 balls, excelled with the ball as well, dismissing top-scorer Bell and also effecting two run outs ? that of the aggressive Kevin Pietersen (28) and Paul Collingwood (34).

While chasing, England lost two early wickets including that of their captain Solanki ? who was born in Udaipur ? for a duck to paceman Vikram Rajvir Singh in the third over. Rudra Pratap got rid of Owais Shah. Prior and Pietersen steadied the innings with the latter increasing the tempo by hitting three consecutive fours off Rudra Pratap to fetch 13 runs from his over.

The duo put on 45 runs before Prior was bowled by Powar. Reduced to 163 for five in the 34th over, Bell resurrected the innings with a 56-run partnership with Ian Blackwell and put his side on the victory course but a crucial run out ? that of Blackwell by captain Ajay Jadeja ? marked the turnaround for the hosts.

Later, speaking to the reporters, Bell said that not much should be read into his team’s loss in the only practice match ahead of the ODI series.

Bell pointed to the comeback win by England in the third and final Test to level the series after suffering a nine-wicket in the tour match.

“This has happened to us in Pakistan and South Africa too, where we lost a few practice games but came back strongly when the competitive cricket was on,” the right hander said.