So earlier, it was one Mahendra Singh Dhoni who was a lucky captain – and batsman and wicket-keeper – and now, his wins are being ‘blamed’ on good fortune. So, in a match where his team is in the process of chasing 241 runs for a win, and are only 43 behind the target, with half the side to bat, and nine overs to get the runs in; the invasion of bad light and a subsequent win on Duckworth-Lewis for the home team is all due to the skipper’s blessed luck. Give me a big, fat break, guys. Had the conditions been more playable, and had the match run its natural course, the probability of an Indian win was much higher than an English one. England had a chance, but it was an outside one at that.

Quite frankly, the English lost – as they had on two previous occasions in this – because of a couple of very vital factors; and one can be rest assured none of them had anything to do with the light, or paucity of it anyways.

For starters, it is very evident that despite being a reasonable unit, under a charismatic skipper, the difference in the pitch conditions has affected the team more than one thought it would. Adaptability is the key to any team’s success abroad, and so far, this English team has not been too successful in this regard. In the sub-continent in general, and India in specific, the slowish tracks make batting a little more of a stiff task than the rest of the world, and the batsmen need to use their feet a lot more than usual. The English are known to use the ‘sweep’ option much more than necessary, and are rather averse to coming down the track to the slower bowlers, thus making it difficult for them to get away.

And as if, the batting woes at the crux of the issue were not enough, Kevin Pietersen has made some baffling decisions when it comes to spin bowling. In an attempt to prop up the batting line-up – and a decent bat in Stuart Broad comes in at number 9 or 10 – part-time left arm spinner, Samit Patel, was preferred over the frontline offie in Graeme Swann for the first couple of matches. Pietersen seems to be a quick learner, but this was a strategic blunder that will go on to haunt him for the rest of the series.

The other factor that has played its part well in the English downfall, in these three games, has been an almost-soft approach by the visitors. Lacking any aggression – except, in a couple of instances between Andrew Flintoff and Yuvraj Singh – makes the English look like they have almost decided to go in with this strategy of not rubbing the wrong side of the Indian players - and public - at large. Probably the looming big bucks of the ‘Indian Premier League’ has something to do with it, but it clearly isn’t working for the tourists. Its almost like Pietersen’s boys are only happy to compete, and the losses haven’t yet stung them more than when one loses a friendly wager with an office colleague. The fire in the belly is very evident by the lack of it, and England could do well to learn a few tricks from Freddie Flintoff who almost coerced danger-man Yuvraj Singh, into swatting one straight into the hands of the square-leg.

Besides that, one also feels that England needs some really aggressive batsmen at the top of the order, who are both, quick-scoring and cavalier. Matt Prior, Ian Bell and Owais Shah at positions one, two and three did make too much cricketing sense, though Pietersen would have argued that it was what won him the series against South Africa. In India though, the ball comes on to the bat when it is newish, and it is also the time to get in the best of the slam-bang players in. Unfortunately, man-to-man, the Indians look to be a far superior batting side, and unless the likes of Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff can step up a gear and rake up the big scores, it is difficult to see this English team ruffling any feathers.

Stuart Broad cannot be faulted for not trying; in fact he should get an A for the same. But the rest of the quicker bowlers have yet to fire in the series, and barring Flintoff, not too many have looked like picking up the wickets. The worrying part for the tourists is that the openers have not yet really fired as a pair, and they are still chasing leather for most part.

To me, England needs to improve all their aspects of the game by a reasonable amount to stand a chance in this series. They should know better than to lose the next match, because with it, the series will also sink.