Sehwag, after being troubled by Broad’s swing, had to cut down on his stroke-play. It was a measure of how well England were bowling, and even off-spinner Graeme Swann, who got his first game of the series, was difficult to have a go at. Still, Sehwag kept finding the fences intermittently before completing his 31st ODI fifty with a towering six off Swann.

England sensed their opportunity after Sehwag’s dismissal but the third power-play, in fading light, ended their hopes as Yuvraj and Dhoni cut lose. Yuvraj got 14 in Swann’s last over. And though he was dismissed soon after, he and Dhoni had done enough by then, giving India 38 runs from the four-over quota. When it had been England’s turn, they had scored only 21 from their batting power-play. In the final analysis, that could be seen as the difference between the two teams on Friday.

Bad light notwithstanding, England will once again have to blame their batsmen for the loss. They failed to seize the advantage, after getting their noses ahead early following Kevin Pietersen’s decision to bat first. Only a succession of poor strokes stopped them from posting a big score. Bell’s breezy 46 ended with a feather-touch to wicketkeeper Dhoni, and Pietersen holed out against Harbhajan Singh, who finished with three wickets.

England know they need to get their act together before the next match in Bangalore on Sunday, but they’ll have to figure out how to do that quickly. “It won’t be easy but we we’d like to win all the remaining games,” Flintoff said.