Fear is punishing clueless England

That is not entirely the fault of the players because India are a magnificent unit. They have been helped by the absence of their senior batsmen, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and even Sachin Tendulkar who, compared to their young replacements, were liabilities in the field.

India have a pace attack, with reserves to die for and, led by Yuvraj Singh, aggressive batsmen.

Buoyed by their Test victories over Australia, India are starting to believe they really are the best in the world and noticeably, unlike England following their Ashes win in 2005, seem intent on building on that success.

Although the second match in this series was more competitive, the fact remains that England appear rather clueless. While many of our opponents are able to throw off the shackles when playing one-day cricket, too many of England's batsmen still seem to be constrained by fear.

With the amount of Twenty20 cricket being played, it is becoming difficult to explain why England's batsmen appear restricted, but one look at the strike-rates of the top three batsmen in the Indore game illustrates the problem.

Ian Bell, in 24 innings as an opener, scores 69 runs per 100 balls faced and has hit just two half-centuries. Matt Prior has now opened the batting 27 times, averages only 25 per innings with a strike-rate of 75. Owais Shah has batted at No3 seven times with a strike rate of 72, but he averages a rate of only 75 in his other 45 innings, so he is scoring at the same speed in his new position.

Compare their combined average (72 runs per 100 balls) with India's top three batsmen who, together, score at 88. Not only is that a significant difference to the pace at the start of an innings but it means that Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff are coming out to bat with the pressure of being behind the rate starting to bite.

The sight of Bell attempting to slog every ball out of the nets during practice at Indore was pitiful. Here was a man who recognised the problem but who has been reduced to believing that swiping is the answer.

Trouble is that England's selection for the trip has not been thought through. The replacement opener to Prior and Bell is Alastair Cook. He is a fine Test player but with a strike-rate in international cricket of 68 simply represents more of the same.

Prior's understudy here, Tim Ambrose, is a good cutter and hooker but barely hits a shot off the front foot. So it was a barmy selection.

And yet all England can do is to shuffle the pack as they limp on to Kanpur on Thursday. What Ravi Bopara feels about playing as a specialist batsman at No8, one can only guess. Not only does it leave him with no opportunity to make a contribution but it denies England a fifth specialist bowler.

Promoting Bopara to the top of the order in Bell's position seems a reasonable option given that England's hands are tied. And now that Pietersen seems to have lost faith in James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom can expect a long-awaited run out.

But my choice at the top of the order would be Stuart Broad. He is worth a punt but that is far too adventurous.