England captain Alastair Cook was left fuming after losing the fourth ODI against India on Wednesday, pointing to an incident when Steve Finn got a wicket off a dead ball as a key moment in the match.

Finn, who had been in the spotlight for knocking the stumps with his knee during his follow-through, got Suresh Raina caught in the slips when he was on 41. But the ball was called dead, as had been decided by the umpires before the series, and Raina went on to make 89 not out as India won by five wickets.

But Cook, who at the time was seem to be heatedly discussing the matter with umpire Steve Davis, said he didn't recall being told that dead ball would be called rather than a warning given, even if it was a first offence.

The skipper said: "There was a little bit of confusion. Apparently we had been told that because he knocked them over twice in one of the previous games he was a 'serial offender' and that he was going to get called straight away.

"In the heat of the moment I think a few of us might have forgotten that. Whether we'd been told that, I wasn't entirely sure.

"At the time I didn't know, but apparently the umps were pretty clear that they had told us that so I must have been deaf when I was listening to them.

"You've got to clarify these things. I couldn't remember the conversation but they're convinced they had it and I'm going to have to take their word for it.

"Bowlers have knocked the stumps off before. It's only because Finny did it a couple of times in that South Africa series that it's happened. Finny's bowled 60 balls today and he knocked them off once, so he's probably bowled 61 with the dead ball.

"I know it's a tough job for the umpires but it's obviously frustrating because at that time that wicket would have put us in just a slightly better situation than we were. It's obviously frustrating when those little things don't go your way."

Cook wasn't disheartened though, adding: "I'm actually quite pleased with the way we played, we stuck in there with the bat. Throughout the first 30-40 overs it nipped around for the seamers.

"We did have the real tough end of conditions, but we held our nerve, which we had not done in the last two games. We can take really good stuff out of it. The last two games we couldn't really do that."

England lost the series as a result of this defeat, and trail 3-1 going into the final match on Sunday.