Better, But Not Good Enough

England were comprehensively beaten in both of the first two One Day Internationals in Rajkot and Indore.  The tourists are desperately in need of a morale-boosting victory against a buoyant Indian side.

England's loss in Rajkot was a crushing defeat, being beaten by 158 runs. They made more of a match of it in Indore for approximately 20 overs; when Stuart Broad nipped out three early wickets and the five over powerplay between Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen. Yuvraj Singh produced another dominant display; three days after demonstrating his explosive strokeplay to hit an unbeaten 138 in Rajkot, he hit 118 off 122 balls and claimed four for 28 including taking the two vital wickets of Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen in the space of four balls to secure a 54-run victory for India.

"I definitely thought victory could have been ours during that powerplay," said Pietersen.

"I thought Fred and I used that powerplay well without slogging or silly hitting and came out of it okay, we'd give ourselves a chance."

"We made a decision, we both went hard at it and scored 59 in the powerplay and the momentum came back with us. Unfortunately, we failed to capitalise on that too, but we were much more competitive and that was great."

England are still an average one-day side away from home, they lack two vital qualities which India have in spades, power-hitting at the top of the order and match winning spin.

Fast bowler Stuart Broad believes his side have the talent and capability to win the seven match Series. "There are five games left and we know momentum can change quickly in cricket," he said.

"If you can get a few basics right, win the next one and go on a little spree, then we'll be in with a shout and it will be a tight Series."

England are likely to make at least one change in personnel and possibly more in the batting order tomorrow in Kanpur, by featuring Graeme Swann in the line up, as part of a twin-spin attack alongside Nottinghamshire's team mate, Samit Patel.