Unfortunately, a lot seems to have gone wrong for the Englishmen and their flamboyant captain ever since. And now, on the back of what has transpired in the first three ODIs in India, the much-hyped Stanford debacle seems to have been merely a bad appetiser for them. England have failed to pose any sort of serious challenge against the marauding Indians, and everything, including the nature of the pitches, the size of the grounds and the form of the Indian batsmen seems to have gone against the visitors as they head to Bangalore, trailing 3-0 in the series.

In contrast, everything that India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has tried has come off. Every move, including bringing on Yuvraj Singh during the third power-play of England’s innings in Indore, when Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff were going all guns blazing, has brought a positive result.

The Indian captain has been well served by openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, with at least one of them scoring a half-century in each match, and doing it in double-quick time. Yuvraj’s sublime form has been the major talking point of the series, while youngsters Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Yusuf Pathan have had their moments.

And it doesn’t seem to get any better for the visitors, as the Indian team welcome back Sachin Tendulkar, who opted out of the opening three games and will be raring to go against an already battered English bowling. All-rounder Irfan Pathan also makes a comeback at the expense of left-arm pacer RP Singh, and will give Dhoni more options, as India look to clinch the series on Sunday.

The constant shuffling of the batting-order has been one of England’s major worries, apart from their batsmen’s inability to take on Indian spinners in the middle overs. Matthew Prior, who opened the innings in Rajkot and Indore, and Ian Bell have struggled to force the issue so far. Flintoff, Owais Shah and the captain himself have showed glimpses of their ability to dominate the bowling, but have failed to capitalise on starts.

Seamers Flintoff, Anderson and Harmison have bowled with heart but have found the wickets unresponsive for their hit-the-wicket style of bowling. Graeme Swann was impressive in his only outing in Kanpur, but Samit Patel has felt the wrath of the Indian batsmen.

The pitch at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and the overcast conditions, though, may hold some respite for the struggling Englishmen. Chief curator Narayan Raju doesn’t expect the wicket to give too much assistance to the spinners, and also ascertains that it will have good carry for the fast bowlers.

“It will be a perfect wicket for batting, something like a second day’s pitch for a Test match,” says Raju. There has been rain in the air here, and the city did experience heavy showers earlier in the week, but Raju is confident that weather and Duckworth-Lewis will have no part to play this time around.

Pietersen did say after the Kanpur loss that his team was improving with every outing, but it is do-or-die time for the visitors now. And they could be left with only pride to play for, if their captain doesn’t regain his magic touch, and somehow finds a way past Dhoni’s relentless army under the lights in Bangalore.