India on course once again

The tourists scored a competitive 270 for four with Kevin Pietersen becoming the first England player in a year to score a one-day international hundred.

But despite Pietersen's unbeaten 111 off 128 balls, England were quickly heading for another defeat after India raced to 179 for three after 30 overs with Virender Sehwag driving them towards victory with a brilliant 91 off 73 balls.

Defeats at Rajkot, Indore, Kanpur and Bangalore had convinced the tourists to make changes, Alastair Cook replacing Ian Bell at the top of the order and Steve Harmison replacing James Anderson, who is yet to claim a wicket in the series.

Cook earned his recall after Warwickshire batsman Bell had failed to give England much impetus at the top of the innings, but even paired with Essex team-mate Ravi Bopara they once again struggled for boundaries and both fell inside the first 10 overs.

Left-hander Cook, whose last one-day appearance for England was last summer, fell in the sixth over chasing a wide delivery from Zaheer Khan which was collected by Sachin Tendulkar at slip.

Bopara fell four overs later when he forced Zaheer straight to backward point, leaving Pietersen and Paul Collingwood to set the platform for a major total.

The 89-run partnership began slowly but began to accelerate just as Collingwood, without a major score previously in the series, fell for 40 when he drove Harbhajan Singh to long-on.

England's hopes were further undermined when all-rounder Andrew Flintoff fell four balls later, edging Ishant Sharma to slip for a duck.

But Pietersen took command of the situation to ensure there was no repeat of the type of middle order collapses which have plagued England's displays in the previous four matches.