England had implausibly claimed that the Stanford week was part of their preparation for the India tour but, if the Antigua experience really was to be of use, then here was the opportunity to show it. The dash for runs was only a couple of overs longer than a Twenty20 chase. Unfortunately, conservatism in the batting order meant that they were always behind the target.

The opening partnership of Ian Bell and Ravi Bopara should have been split. Bell is a good foil for a quick scorer - I always thought he would bat well alongside Marcus Trescothick - but not a crackerjack in his own right. And it was asking too much of Bopara - the number eight this time last week - to take on Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel from the start with the required rate standing at nine per over. An experienced hitter should have been promoted.

During the first six overs of powerplays, England scored from only 11 of 36 balls and finished that period on 21 for 1. Owais Shah, showing why Middlesex are so keen to have him for the Champions League, and Andrew Flintoff did well to even briefly threaten the target. Both, however, fell in the batting powerplay overs when Zaheer underlined his value to the India side, bowling the first batch of six balls and talking Ishant Sharma through the next.

Batting under lights is always tricky and the ball nipped around on a freshened pitch. Pietersen could not complain; when he won the toss he knew that the first problem was a certainty and the second highly likely given a forecast of rain. But he was unlucky in that the earlier resumption at 9.13pm left England five overs to bowl with the seam attack having completed its quota. India could therefore capitalise against spin.

The brutal fact is that England have repeated their failure here of two years ago in losing the series at the earliest opportunity, 4-0 down with three games to play. India may take the opportunity to rest Zaheer at some stage. England must now use the remainder of the series to learn with the 2011 World Cup in mind, and try to gain some confidence ahead of the Test matches.

They have been beaten as heavily as the scoreline suggests. The reliance on Flintoff is unhealthy and the problem of the batting order goes beyond the mistake here in Bangalore. Then there is the issue of spin. Nobody complained at the omission of Monty Panesar when the squad was announced, so a lot of people are writing with hindsight on that one. But Graeme Swann should have been in the side from the start.