Muhammad Shah made insinuations regarding the martial character of Khan Dowran, to which he responded zealously by donning armour and mounting his war elephant in preparation for battle. Khan-i Dauran declared that it was not the Indian style to abandon a friend, even if he was imprudent. The initial total of men leaving the Mughal camp alongside Khan Dowran amounted to no more than 8,000–9,000 men, mostly cavalry and some musket-bearing infantry. A steady stream of reinforcements left the Mughal encampment to cross the Alimardan river and join battle throughout the day, but there was no effort to bring these large numbers under a unified deployment east of the Alimardan river in support of Mughal units already engaged. Instead, the Mughals at the front would receive a continuous line of reinforcements with no grand tactical plan to help direct them. Nader divides the Mughals on the centre and left wing As Nader observed the advance of Sa'adat Khan in the direction of the Persian centre, he ordered that the zamburaks be taken forth so as to maximise fire power in the initial exchange. Personally commanding a chosen force of 1,000 cavalry drawn from the ranks of the Afshar clan, he deployed three elite units of cavalry, armed with Jazāyerchi muskets, in the vicinity of Kanjpura village. These units (each a thousand strong) were also supported by Nader's deployment of zamburaks. Sending out two units of his elite Jazāyerchi on mounts with the purpose of diverting the Mughal advance onto the Persian centre, Nader then sent out another unit to set Khan Dowran on a divergent path and eventually lure him towards the army's left wing which was waiting in ambush around Kanjpura. Although Sa'adat Khan in fact halted his advance temporarily, in anticipation of Khan Dowran's reinforcements, due to Nader's brilliant diversionary tactics Khan Dowran was led away from Sa'adat Khan's forces and Sa'adat Khan himself was teased into resuming his advance east without consolidating with upcoming reinforcements. Nizam-ul-Mulk began forming up his men behind the Alimardan river in a lethargic attempt at moving up to support the leading elements of the army. The Persian centre was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Sa'adat Khan's men with loaded muskets and guns. As the Mughals came into musketry range, the screening force of mounted troops fell away to reveal a line of jazayerchi with levelled muskets. A uniform volley was fired into