Sky Sports pundit David Lloyd blogs from foggy Kanpur where he is struggling to see the England team in a good light.
I'm writing this week's blog amid the smog and fog of Kanpur, which I'm sure you'll be aware of if you were watching the third ODI.
What an absolute farce that was. There was 30,000 people in that stadium, another 10,000 outside and it's been a complete waste of a day. Maybe they're not bothered that the game finished early as long as India won, but I assume they turned up to watch a game of cricket?
We've known for days that it would be like this in Kanpur because the weather is constant and at 4.30pm every day you can't see. India knew exactly what was going to happen, that it would be reduced 38-40 overs, and I think they should have started 40 minutes earlier.
We're going round in circles as to what the regulations are. The regulations state we're not allowed to use the lights during a day game - and England were reluctant to do so - but there were discussions to see if an agreement could be made between the two captains to use them. I understand this is a rare occurrence, but common sense would tell you to just put the lights on and play.
The biggest farce of all was that they put the lights on at the end so they could do the presentation!
It's a ridiculous state of affairs and, if you'll excuse the pun, it leaves the game in a dreadful light.
Andrew Flintoff was very gracious when I spoke to him afterwards saying England were definitely second favourites - but you never know. Two wickets in an over would have put a different complexion on things.
India were clearly bossing it and they've been a crack outfit throughout the series. We were 60 runs short today and the team has been firing on about three gears when the car's got six.
It was a 5/10 performance for England here and even that's an improvement on what we've seen before. Ravi Bopara did okay at the top of the order but let's not go overboard. He got 60 then got out when what we need is hundreds. Perhaps I'm being a bit over-critical, but scoring 60 simply isn't enough.
Sunil Gavaskar is very shrewd and we got an absolute gem from the old-timer when he pointed out that England just pat it around. That was a very telling comment. There's no real intent, no venom and no anger in the bat speed of the England players when you compare it to what you get from India.
Their blokes are so much more savvy and for them the whole game revolves around hitting the ball. They pick the bat up and think about hitting it - but if the ball's too good they'll block it. England seem to play the other way and go out looking to block.
The number of dot balls that we pat back is ridiculous. In the last five or six overs today, MS Dhoni put everybody on the edge of the circle and let us have as many singles as we wanted.
I've said all along it'll be 7-0 to India and I still believe that. It's very easy to be ultra-critical of England, but I've been in that dressing room and nobody will be more critical of their performances than themselves.
They will be frustrated and they will be angry. Sometimes you lose games narrowly and you can still be satisfied with how you have played, but we simply haven't competed in the three games so far.
Peter Moores will be looking at the performances more than the results and that's what will be getting to him.
We've been in some remote places so far on this tour - firstly Rajkot, then Indore and now Kanpur.
I walked around the market the other day, which was a real adventure because it was so vibrant and chaotic. I had a string of people following me around like the Pied Piper. As a westerner with a camera I obviously stood out.
There was an adorable little girl who was pulling on my trousers and asking for money. She was like a little street urchin and she melted my heart so of course I gave her some. After that she was there everywhere I turned asking for more. People were shooing her away, but I was fine with it because she was adorable.
There were a few older chaps who spoke good English who tagged along as well and there were a few young bucks on motorbikes who wanted pictures. I spent half a day in that market and it was an incredible experience.
I can safely say that India is a very noisy place. There are thousands of cars around and they're all on their horns all day and night, it doesn't stop.
I don't need to set an alarm clock to wake up in the morning either. There's a mosque near the hotel which gives me an early morning call at 4.30am on the dot every single day. That's what time the singing starts and there's no way of getting back to sleep so I just get up and make myself a cup of tea.
I was also a little baffled the other morning when a bloke knocked on my hotel door and asked me if I was the umpire Darrel Hair. I pointed out that I was in fact a commentator and sent him on his way.
I emailed Paul Allot to tell him about this and he informed me that was nothing. It turns out when he was on holiday in Barbados somebody asked him if he was Daniel Craig!
Haha! The name's Bond... Basildon Bond!

Your Comments
feb_2008
"Fun and funny article once again Mr. Lloyd (or is that Darrel Hair?).. good stuff.. m from Delhi myself.. would be glad to show you around when u boys come here.. would be gladder still if u could get me a ticket!!!"
sumit
"David,Don't you think the way this series has gone so far India have out batted England in the middle overs & unless English batsmen find a way to be aggressive not only in their intent but also innovative in their placement( while batting) they as a team would struggle to compete.They need to get their batting line up also right & it needs to be flexible with Shah being used to counter spin & Flintoff to come at No. 4 so that he has more time to set the tempo with the bat early on then him having to chase the game as he seems to be the most aggressive batsmen in the line up.
I had hoped that under KP England would be a more innovative & imaginative side specially in one days as English still seem to be playing this format of the game as it was in 80s & early 90s.
The major success England had in one days in recent time was when Trescothick & knight used to open for them & irrespective of the conditions they used to more often then not attack the opposition early on.
If England doesn't play with flair then they should as well start preparing for test series to atleast make that competitive.
"
jack
"David Lloyd, I thoroughly enjoyed this article. In fact I am also a keen cricket lover who watches nearly all the international games that are shown on one of my channels in Toronto. Needless to say, I have a good laugh whenever you(David) and some of the other English commentators are on.....the English humour is brilliant! Having spent 25 years in London, I miss all the excitement of cricket and football(soccer in this part of the world), and so look forward to these pearls of wisdom from time to time during cricket commentaries. Go David Go(another expression in Canada). "
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