England lose series after another defeat

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

England slumped to a dismal one-day series defeat after losing the rain-hit fourth encounter by 19 runs to keep India on course to complete a humiliating series whitewash.

Knowing they needed to avoid defeat to prevent India winning the series after being beaten in the previous matches in Rajkot, Indore and Kanpur, the tourists were once again humbled by the ferocity of India's top order.

Put into bat in cloudy conditions, India overcame two interruptions for rain and adjustment in overs to power their way to a daunting 166 for four in their 22 overs, giving England a Duckworth-Lewis victory target of 198.

England's confused policy during the series was then further exposed when, needing nine runs an over, they chose to delay big-hitters like Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff and were restricted to 178 for eight in reply.

Despite an 82-run stand off 48 balls between Owais Shah and Flintoff, England's inevitable defeat was effectively sealed when both batsmen fell in successive overs during the batting powerplay just as the tourists needed a big finale to their innings.

England's fourth successive defeat underlined the gulf in class between the two sides despite the tourists landing in India less than three weeks ago with confidence brimming from claiming a 4-0 home success against South Africa just two months earlier.

But in the opening four matches of this series, their gameplan has been completely undermined with India's top order consistently dominating their attack, not least today when they raced to 106 for one off just 17 overs when rain halted play for the second time.

If that was not punishment enough, England then watched helplessly as India added 60 runs in the five overs remaining after the re-start with Yuvraj Singh again demonstrating his explosive strokeplay to finish unbeaten on 25 from just 11 balls.

Yuvraj's innings, which included three sixes, put the finishing touches to an already impressive display from India's batsmen led by opener Virender Sehwag.

Setting the tone from the first ball of the innings when he launched James Anderson over point for four, Sehwag hit a brilliant 69 off 57 balls and provided the impetus to secure another worryingly one-sided triumph.

Sehwag dominated a 38-run opening stand with Sachin Tendulkar, who returned to the side after resting since the Test series triumph over Australia but looked like a player who has not played a competitive innings for a fortnight.

Tendulkar's scratchy innings was brought to an end when his concentration was broken by a five-minute delay to repair the foot-holes and had his off-stump knocked back by Stuart Broad with the first delivery after the re-start.

Far from restricting India's run-flow, the arrival of Gautam Gambhir at the crease alongside Sehwag seemed to galvanise the pair and put India on course for another total above 300 had the game run its full course.

Instead, two rain interruptions spanning nearly five hours, left the pair facing just five more overs of the innings when they finally walked out to bat again, but with all England's leading seamers - Anderson, Andrew Flintoff and Broad - already bowled out.

Sehwag, who gave a sharp chance off Broad on 16 which flew past wicketkeeper Matt Prior before he could react, holed out in the second over after the re-start attempting to hit Graeme Swann over the top after hitting nine fours and three sixes in his innings.

Gambhir followed in identical fashion in Swann's next over after contributing a useful 40 off 37 balls, setting the stage for Yuvraj to once again demonstrate his dominance of England's attack.

Needing an explosive start chasing such a massive total, England surprisingly kept faith with Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara to start the innings but it was a decision which backfired spectacularly.

Bopara fell to the seventh ball of England's reply, brilliantly caught by Ishant Sharma at mid-on, but by then they were already struggling to keep up with the required rate.

Neither Bell or Shah, once again promoted back up to number three, found the gaps consistently enough as England scored off only six of the first 24 balls of their innings.

Bell was a particular culprit and took until the eighth over to record his first boundary before falling in the same over, bowled by Harbhajan Singh attempting a slog over mid-wicket after scratching around for 12 off 15 balls.

England's failure to be more aggressive during the early overs forced new batsman Pietersen to take risks from the very start of his innings and he was bowled off an inside edge attempting to hit Ishant Sharma through extra cover.

Shah brilliantly propelled England back into contention with a superb 72 off only 48 balls, which included nine fours and three sixes, but a leading edge off the first over of the powerplay quickly followed by Flintoff chipping to extra cover in the next over.

Just to underline their dominance, India even had time to taunt the tourists for the final ball by setting a field of four slips and a gully before celebrating their series win with three games remaining.