Nothing put the reputations of the sides or the scale of the result into context more vividly than the sight of Kshemal Waingankar waiting by the dressing-room for Kevin Pietersen to autograph a bat. An hour or so earlier the 23-year-old now behaving like a starry-eyed schoolboy had skittled the touring team in their final warm-up match before the one-day international in Rajkot on Friday.

Pietersen was one of his five victims and while the England captain dismissed the result and batting display as irrelevant, he cannot avoid the contrasting preparation of the sides. India, formidable on home soil in any case, have this week toppled Australia, the best team in the world. England have been dismissed for fewer than a hundred in 25 overs by what amounts to the Mumbai second string.

Half of the performance, watched by Geoff Miller, the national selector, was fine. England bowled perfectly well, given that it was only the second match of the trip. Problems here surround those not involved. Ryan Sidebottom is recovering slowly from Achilles trouble and Stuart Broad has a twisted knee, leaving James Anderson and Stephen Harmison as the only specialist pace bowlers who are fully fit.

The batting, however, was every bit as flimsy as it looks on the scorecard. Players could be forgiven for struggling against spin, but Mumbai whipped through the order without an over from the slow men. Instead, it was those described by Pietersen as “60-mile-an-hour dibbly-dobblers” who filleted the innings, capitalising on strokes that can be described as anything from lazy to arrogant.

England were three down by the fourth over, six down by the thirteenth. Alarm bells rang when Pietersen said that the players were not fully focused; he said much the same thing in Antigua in the build-up to the heavy loss to the Stanford Superstars. “The reasons for that were totally different,” he said. “This game was a quick little reminder which will teach us a few nice lessons.”

He was entitled to contrast the atmosphere inside the Brabourne Stadium with the mood he expects in Rajkot, where security alone inside and around the ground - about 1,500 policemen and reserves - will outnumber the crowd yesterday. But it is optimistic to hope that batsmen can flick a switch and find their timing and judgment. “There are no dramas,” he said. “If we do this three or four times in the internationals, there will be.”

Waingankar, bearded and slight, is employed full time by a local business to play in the city's thriving office league. He made his only first-class appearance two years ago. In 2005, he played for Downend, the Bristol club famously represented by W. G. Grace, and last summer returned to England for a stint with Old Whitgiftians in Croydon, South London.

He sparked the collapse in the first over, tempting Ian Bell into a languid cut at a wide ball. Leg-before decisions against Matt Prior and Pietersen were marginal - certainly not howlers - and Paul Collingwood drove to deep mid-on. Samit Patel was on his third life by the time he slashed to slip.

Like Waingankar, Rajesh Verma generated seam and swing, and Rahil Shaikh's left-arm created a new angle, undoing Andrew Flintoff in his first over. Ravi Bopara was even more culpable, following two beautiful off-side shots with a leaden-footed attempt at a repeat. Luke Wright edged on defending and only Graeme Swann, in a damage-limitation exercise, managed to hang around.

England must embark on an international contest only eight days after arriving at the end of a 2-day journey into an environment that uniquely assaults the senses. In theory they will not have fully overcome jet lag - experts advise one day per hour of change - let alone adjusted their skills. Victory will come despite rather than because of their preparation.

Scoreboard

Mumbai Cricket Association XI
P Waghela c Swann b Anderson 4
P C Valthaty c Patel b Swann 44
S Marathe c Prior b Harmison 65
*O J Khanvilkar c and b Patel 0
R D Bagade c Flintoff b Patel 25
W A Mota lbw b Collingwood 0
S S Shaikh c Collingwood b Harmison 37
D Salunkhe not out 19
†S M Shaikh not out 14
Extras (lb 5, w 8, nb 1) 14
Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) 222

A M Salvi, R G Shaikh, R P Verma and K Waingankar did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-90, 3-94, 4-137, 5-138, 6-166, 7-201.

Bowling: Anderson 8-2-35-1; Harmison 10-1-38-2; Flintoff 7-0-21-0; Swann 8-0-32-1; Patel 9-0-50-2; Pietersen 4-0-19-0; Collingwood 4-0-22-1.

England XI
I R Bell c S M Shaikh b Waingankar 6
†M J Prior lbw b Verma 3
*K P Pietersen lbw b Waingankar 0
P D Collingwood c R G Shaikh b Verma 8
S R Patel c Khanvilkar b Waingankar 13
R S Bopara b Waingankar 9
A Flintoff c S S Shaikh b R G Shaikh 5
L J Wright b Waingankar 1
G P Swann not out 24
S J Harmison c Valthaty b R G Shaikh 4
J M Anderson c S M Shaikh b R G Shaikh 20
Extras (b 1, w 4) 5
Total (25 overs) 98

O A Shah did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-10, 3-10, 4-29, 5-33, 6-38, 7-46, 8-55, 9-64.

Bowling: Verma 6-1-12-2; Waingankar 8-1-37-5; R G Shaikh 7-0-35-3; Salvi 4-0-13-0.

Players per side: England XI 12 (11 batting, 11 fielding); Mumbai Cricket Association XI 13 (11 batting, 11 fielding).

Umpires: A M Saheba and M R Singh.

Roll of shame

Nov 1984: India Under-25 beat David Gower's team by an innings and 59 runs in Ahmedabad.

Feb 1986: Mike Gatting's England touch down and are beaten by seven wickets by the Windward Islands in the first game. England went on to lose the Test series 5-0.

Jan 1997: Mike Atherton, the England captain, played in a benefit game for Danny Morrison in Auckland and was caught by Emily Drumm, of the New Zealand women's team.

Feb 1997: England lose to New Zealand A by 90 runs, the first touring side to lose a first-class match outside a Test series in that country since Sri Lanka in 1983.

Oct 2002: England are thrashed by the ACB Chairman's XI at Lilac Hill in Perth by 58 runs. Stephen Harmison's 14-ball over included seven consecutive wides.

Oct 2005: England ill-fated tour of Pakistan after the Ashes hysteria resuled in them being humbled. England's preparations for the first Test suffered a blow with an embarrassing six-wicket defeat by Pakistan A in their final warm-up match in Lahore.