With boundaries few and far between, the Black Caps were forced to trades in ones and twos as Afridi and Gul produced spells which were tailor-made for Twenty20 cricket.
Between overs eight and 14, Gambhir and Dhoni struggled to find the boundary, trading mainly in ones and twos, and India would not have been overly disappointed when Dhoni saw his stumps knocked back by Naeem Islam.
The Breeders' Cup features 14 races in all - 10 Group One races, three Group Twos and one Group Three - and the star attraction in the Classic will be undefeated six-year-old mare Zenyatta.
The return of Kevin Pietersen galvanised England and he batted beautifully and although he was clearly hampered by his Achilles injury and in no mood to run sharp ones or twos, he found the boundary five times, and cleared it three times as England improved on their 14 fours against the Dutch with 18 fours and six sixes here.
The home side started strongly and Steven McGarry had a 30-yard volley saved before O'Brien cut inside and played one-twos with Paul Quinn and David Clarkson before finding the net with a powerful low drive, which went in off Scott Severin.