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.

But a brilliant 72 off 48 balls, glittered with three huge hits, by Owais Shah and his partnership with Andrew Flintoff, who eventually scored 41 off 30 balls, gave England hope.

Zaheer Khan and Ishant, though, struck in consecutive overs, getting rid of Shah and Flintoff, and with them went the visitors’ chances of keeping the series alive. The rest of the English batsmen tried their best to get on with the scoring, but found the continuously surmounting asking rate too much to contend with. The last ball of the match, bowled by Munaf Patel, saw Dhoni employing a Test match field with four slips and a gully, and in a way summarised the way the series has gone.

Unsettled Tendulkar

Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar, who replaced Rohit Sharma in the team and partnered Sehwag at the top, never really looked settled at the crease, and was bowled through the gate by young Stuart Broad for an ungainly 11.

Flintoff continued to be England’s most impressive bowler on tour. Pietersen has surprisingly not used the option of opening with the big Lancastrian in the series so far, and preferred to continue with Anderson, who has conceded 158 runs in his 25 overs at 6.32 without picking up a wicket.

Sehwag reached his third fifty of the series, with a top-edged hook off Broad, and celebrated it by clearing the square-leg fence off the next ball. But, unfortunately for the large, noisy crowd gathered at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and maybe to the relief of Pietersen, the drizzle returned, with India 106-1 after 17 overs.

But India had too much in their arsenal for the misfiring Englishmen.