England can take little from Indian winter

When Kevin Pietersen took over from Michael Vaughan last summer, his appointment as captain appeared to have paved the way for a new era of success. He led his team to victory over South Africa in his first Test in charge, before masterminding a 4-0 triumph against the country of his birth in the one-day series.

But since then, little has gone right. Even though Pietersen's team avoided defeat in this match, it has been a wretched winter, and there are question marks against a number of players.

Steve Harmison and Monty Panesar will return from India with their confidence damaged. And with those two bowlers off-form, England do not have enough fire-power to trouble the best teams. On the batting front, apart from Pietersen and Andrew Strauss, there is little in the top six to worry the West Indies attack when the tour of the Caribbean starts on 25 January, or Australia's bowlers ahead of next summer's Ashes.

He ended this match 24 not out, but Ian Bell's place is under threat after a run of low scores and Andrew Flintoff, although brilliant with the ball, is inconsistent with the bat. The jury is also still out on whether Matt Prior is a Test class wicketkeeper.