Pietersen a puzzle in ODI format

When I started playing, we were amazed by the facilities in Australia, England and South Africa. Now, when I look at the grounds in Kochi, Ranchi, Dhara-msala, Rajkot and Nagpur, it is unbelievable, writes Sourav Ganguly.

When I started playing, we were amazed by the facilities in Australia, England and South Africa. Now, when I look at the grounds in Kochi, Ranchi, Dharamsala, Rajkot and Nagpur, it is unbelievable. Critics talk about the money the BCCI makes, but when you look at these grounds and facilities and the way Indian cricket is looked after, I, as a player, can just stand and admire.

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Coming back to the game, the better side won. England have always been under-performers in one-day cricket and at the start of the series I did not believe that this team could beat India in the one-day format.

England will have to drastically improve to win this series from here. India have got better and everyone has managed to pick up their game, more so in the bowling department. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has been superb in his short career but the quality of Shami Ahmed and the confidence of Ravindra Jadeja, with the ball, have made life difficult for England. Alastair Cook's one-day cricket has got better in the last one year but Kevin Pietersen baffles me in the shorter format. He struggles to pace his innings and that's why he's an under-performer in one-day cricket.

Either Cook or he will have to bat right through if England are to post big totals. If they don't get past 275 consistently, they will not even get close to beating India.

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The writer is a former India captain