England suffer fifth defeat

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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, used 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 guiding the tourists to a competitive 270 for four - India secured their win 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 on Tuesday, 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 issue 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 10 overs, leaving Pietersen and former captain Paul Collingwood to try to set a platform which would enable England to set a testing target.