Flintoff: We must learn from defeat

England's 19-run defeat in Bangalore on Sunday earned India an unassailable 4-0 lead with three matches to spare in the series, leaving the tourists with little but pride to play for in the remaining games.

But Lancashire all-rounder Flintoff believes every moment of the dismal one-day campaign has been useful and said: "The World Cup is over here in a few years time so the more opportunities to play out here and develop your skills on these type of wickets, the more it will be beneficial to this group of lads."

He added: "Some of the lads have not played a great deal in India, played in front of this type of crowds with the attention on cricket you get over here."

Without a series at stake, England may use the final three matches to look at fringe players like Sussex all-rounder Luke Wright as they attempt to build a line-up capable of challenging for that next World Cup.

But Flintoff believes it would be dangerous to experiment too much, or look ahead to the two-match Test series starting in Ahmedabad on December 11, before they have restored some pride in the remaining three matches.

"The Test matches are upon us quite soon but with the way India play I think it would be dangerous to think about anything other than these one-day matches because we could get found out even more - the way they've played, they've been ruthless," he said.

"In the four games we've played it's fair to say they've outplayed us in every department.

"They're very well drilled and with playing the short form of the game they have learnt a lot of new skills with bat and ball and we've been found wanting a little bit.

"We've got three games left in this series and we're going to have to get something out of them. We can't win the series so it's down to our own personal pride and also trying to gain some momentum going into the Test series."