As soon as officials announced a 9.45am start with as many as 49 overs a side, anyone who had been in Kanpur during the previous two afternoons could have predicted an unsatisfactory end to this contest. Kevin Pietersen was among the pessimists and the England captain was left to reflect on a “very, very bitter pill to take” as his side went 3-0 down in the seven-match series.

Smog from the factories sustaining this manufacturing city lingered over Green Park Stadium (no irony intended, apparently) throughout the day and there could be no complaints against Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the India captain, as he accepted an offer of bad light knowing that his team were ahead on the Duckworth/Lewis method. Roots of the farce had been planted by the match officials at the start of the day.

Although mist restricted visibility at the scheduled starting time of 9am, there was no need to delay the first over by as long as 45 minutes. To compound later difficulties, only 15 minutes were knocked off the break and a single over subtracted from each innings. This served to put back the official finishing time from 4.45pm to 5.07pm; in reality, the light was close to borderline even at 4pm.

Pietersen and the rest of the England team surrounded Russell Tiffin, the senior umpire, as Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan walked off with nine overs left, having ensured that India did not lose wickets after moving ahead of the required rate. Dhoni kept a copy of the

Duckworth/Lewis calculations in his pocket and assessed the situation perfectly, knowing that the light was sure to fade sooner rather than later.

Peter Moores, the England head coach, intends to submit a report to the ICC calling for more flexibility in match regulations. He said: “The umpires have their view of what happened and I have mine. The key is to make sure that this does not happen again. We have to do everything possible to get the game in.”

In the morning, Pietersen and Dhoni requested an earlier start to avoid what became inevitable. “I knew from the moment that the decision was made that there was no way we would get the game finished,” Pietersen said. Even so, he opted not to bowl after winning the toss. “To win the game, we needed to bat first,” he said.

Gary Kirsten, the India coach, saw nothing unfortunate in the way victory came about. “We just played to the rules,” he said. “We won a game of cricket, so we are very happy with the circumstances. The umpires cannot set up a game thinking there will be bad light.”

Roshan Mahanama, the match referee, emphasised that the playing conditions were paramount. “You need to have rules, otherwise where do you draw the line?” he said.

Although the ground has floodlights, it was agreed in advance of the series not to use them for daytime matches. However, last summer, the ICC gave referees more leeway to ensure that matches are completed.

A similar problem is brewing for the sixth game in the northeastern city of Guwahati, where the sun sets so early that the scheduled playing hours are 8.30am to 4.15pm. England’s more immediate problem is to find a way into a series that will be lost if India win in Bangalore on Sunday. They can reflect on progress in Kanpur, but desperately need one of the specialist batsmen to underpin an innings with a big score.

Ian Bell struck the ball beautifully only to edge attempting to steer and Ravi Bopara, in his new opening role, batted positively before being beaten by the turn of Yuvraj Singh. The loss of Andrew Flintoff came at a crucial moment before England had taken their powerplay, but Flintoff responded with the most hostile bowling of the trip.

Sachin Tendulkar has been named in the India squad for the remaining four one-day internationals against England. Murali Vijay, who has not appeared in the series, was dropped to make way, while Irfan Pathan, the fast bowler, was recalled at the expense of the out-of-form R. P. Singh.

England
R S Bopara st Dhoni b Yuvraj 60
I R Bell c Dhoni b Patel 46
*K P Pietersen c Zaheer b Harbhajan 13
P D Collingwood st Dhoni b Harbhajan 1
A Flintoff lbw b Pathan 26
O A Shah c Zaheer b Harbhajan 40
S R Patel c Raina b Ishant 26
M J Prior b Ishant 5
G P Swann not out 5
S C J Broad c Dhoni b Zaheer 0
J M Anderson b Patel 1
Extras (lb 3, w 9, nb 5) 17
Total (48.4 overs) 240

Fall of wickets 1-79, 2-102, 3-106, 4-133, 5-167, 6-203, 7-231, 8-231, 9-235.

Bowling Zaheer 10-0-45-1; Patel 6.4-0-36-2; Ishant 9-0-60-2; Yuvraj 10-0-54-1; Harbhajan 10-2-31-3; Pathan 2-0-7-1; Sehwag 1-0-4-0.

India
G Gambhir c Broad b Flintoff 14
V Sehwag c Collingwood b Flintoff 68
S K Raina b Broad 1
R G Sharma c Prior b Swann 28
Yuvraj Singh c Broad b Flintoff 38
*M S Dhoni not out 29
Y K Pathan not out 12
Extras (lb 5, w 3) 8
Total (5 wkts, 40 overs) 198

Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and M M Patel did not bat.

Fall of wickets 1-31, 2-34, 3-107, 4-125, 5-177.

Bowling Anderson 6-0-47-0; Broad 9-2-36-1; Flintoff 9-0-31-3; Swann 10-0-47-1; Patel 3-0-18-0; Pietersen 3-0-14-0.

Umpires A M Saheba and R B Tiffin (Zimbabwe).