It had most of the ingredients necessary for an Alfred Hitchcock scare-fest, as threatening clouds dominated the skies and frosty kites hovered ominously low. And as far as Kevin Pietersen & Co went, it would have been understandable if they felt they were caught in the middle of one.

India won the rain-curtailed fourth one-dayer by 19 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method to take an unassailable lead in the seven-match series. Virender Sehwag started the nightmare for the visitors, smashing 69 off 57 balls, Yuvraj Singh came to the party with own little cameo and Yusuf Pathan ended the Indian innings with a massive six to leave England chasing a revised target of 198 in 22 overs.

In a Twenty20 kind of setting, with Owais Shah going great guns, it looked like the visitors might make a match of it. But their fight fizzled out just as the game reached its business end to hand India what eventually turned out to be a comfortable win.

The weather ended up having a decisive effect on the match, and rain did seem to have come to Pietersen’s rescue twice, but that was before the Duckworth-Lewis system returned to haunt him and England.

EARLY BLOWS

The visitors, who weren’t scheduled to play a Twenty20 international on their present tour looked in no way prepared to compete in one that was forced upon them when the chase began. They lost their openers cheaply, and when Pietersen was bowled by the new-look Ishant Sharma, it seemed like another big fall was on the cards.

... contd.