ENGLAND suffered their fifth successive defeat, despite delivering their best batting display of the one-day series, with India cruising to another comprehensive victory.
The tourists have been scratching around for answers to halt India's seemingly unstoppable progress towards a series whitewash after emphatic defeats in Rajkot, Indore, Kanpur and Bangalore.
They have tried different batting combinations, use
d 13 players in five matches and even took the day off from training to try and break the routine and perhaps change their fortunes against India's impressive line-up. But despite Kevin Pietersen's unbeaten 111 – ending a run of 14 matches without England scoring a one-day international century – guiding the tourists to a competitive 270 for four, India secured their six-wicket victory with 6.2 overs to spare.
It was another desperate blow to England's hopes of at least salvaging some pride having surrendered any chance of challenging for the series by losing the opening four matches.
Having chosen to conduct a team meeting rather than travel to the Barabati Stadium for practice yesterday, England always knew that anything less than an improved performance would invite criticism for their preparation.
Their change of routine worked to a point with England delivering their most competitive score of the series and ending their barren run without a century, which stretched back to when Pietersen scored an unbeaten 110 against New Zealand at Chester-le-Street last June.
Yet even that was not enough to halt another Indian victory, with openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar's aggressive 136-run partnership spanning 20 overs effectively settling the outcome long before Rohit Sharma hit the winning boundary.
England had struggled to hit boundaries throughout their innings on a slow-looking pitch after being put in to bat, with Pietersen the only player able to clear the ropes for six when he launched Harbhajan Singh over long on. They changed their opening partnership once again, this time recalling Alastair Cook to replace Ian Bell, but England still failed to find the attacking impetus at the top of the order to rival India's strokemakers.
Both Cook and Ravi Bopara fell inside the first ten overs, leaving Pietersen and former captain Paul Collingwood to try to set a platform which would enable England to set a testing target.
Rotating the strike intelligently, they achieved their objective despite a shaky start from Pietersen – his first scoring shot was a mis-timed pull which flew over wicketkeeper MS Dhoni's head for four – by forging an 89-run partnership.
Just as England set their sights on a major total, however, they lost Collingwood when he advanced down the pitch to Harbhajan and was caught at long on and Andrew Flintoff fell in the next over when he edged Ishant Sharma to slip.
Having demanded his side score more centuries, however, Pietersen opted to lead by example and combined with Owais Shah (66 off 57 balls) in a highly-effective 112-run partnership which pushed England beyond 250 for the first time in the series.
However, it soon became clear that India were not going to be too troubled in reaching their target, Sehwag once again setting the tone by hitting the fourth ball of the innings from Steve Harmison for four.
That was the start of another stunning innings from Sehwag, who hit 15 fours and a six in his brilliant 91 off 73 balls, and underlined the vast gulf between the playing styles of the two teams.
While England struggled throughout their innings to score at a healthy rate, Sehwag's aggression and Tendulkar's superb touch left Pietersen scrambling for bowling options as they forced one bowling change after another.
Sehwag forced Harmison to be withdrawn when his first four overs conceded 22 and was even more aggressive when Graeme Swann was brought on to bowl, hammering 21 off his first over.
India's dominance was such that when Harmison knocked back Tendulkar's off-stump shortly after he had reached his half-century they promoted Yuvraj Singh to try to finish the match off quickly.
Yuvraj lasted just three overs before giving Bopara a sharp return catch and Sehwag's stunning innings was halted in the next over by a generous lbw decision awarded in Stuart Broad's favour.
But by then India were so far ahead of the rate captain Dhoni and Suresh Raina could afford to bat patiently and, even when their 94-run stand was broken by Swann trapping Dhoni, the result was beyond doubt.
Pietersen felt his side had at least been competitive. "I thought it (270] was very competitive but I can see why they fielded first, the dew was a bit of a nightmare," Pietersen said. "But we have been outplayed again, Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar made great knocks at the top of the order.
"I said I want to keep the series competitive and it certainly was today. We want to try to keep it competitive and nick two games off India."
Dhoni added: "We didn't get the best of starts but the spinners did their job in the middle and helped restrict England to 270 when it seemed they would get near 300.
"Overall it was a good team effort, especially by the bowlers in the middle and at the end. The remarkable thing in the series has been the bowling, we have improved and hopefully will do well in the last two games."
England's miserable day was complete when it was announced that Broad and Flintoff had suffered injuries that required Sajid Mahmood and Amjad Khan as cover.
