SILVER LINING: Andrew Flintoff''s handling of his limited resources has been the lone bright spot for England in the ODI series. — Photo: R.V. Moorthy

With India having won the TVS Cup at Kochi, the remainder of this series has been reduced to trial matches. That India blooded three inexperienced fast bowlers (including a debutant) and an untried batsman — Venugopala Rao — at Jamshedpur shows you what they thought of the match.

Clearly, it was a case of fulfilling a fixture, and the spectators, who are always smarter than you think, knew it. All that the Indians did was go through the motions, which probably explains why the stands weren't close to being full, an almost unheard occurrence for an ODI in India.

And what about the result? Frankly, none of the Indian youngsters seemed up to it. The bowlers were clearly rusty and Rao seemed out of place. To be fair, they probably need a few more games to find their rhythm, but England's new boys don't have that excuse.

Even with the victory at Jamshedpur, and even if there is a repeat at Indore, I would say that the only gain for England from this series has been the knowledge that their reserve bench cannot win them the World Cup. Aside from that dubious plus, the only heartening factor has been Andrew Flintoff's intelligent marshalling of his meagre resources. Otherwise, I think it has been a waste of time for them.

India, though, have emerged from the series with a few more positives, chief among them a superstar in the making called Mahendra Singh Dhoni. His elevation in the ODI batting order has brought out aspects to his character I hadn't thought he possessed. He has proved to be a true match-winner, who can bat anywhere in the order, and who thinks his way out of a situation. It helps, of course, that he has the Bollywood looks and the attitude to become a real pin-up boy for Indian cricket. Heck, he's got the looks, the talent and the brains, and provided he doesn't let any of it go to his head, he will be a true superstar.

Strong supporting cast

Alongside him have emerged a strong supporting cast comprising the likes of the promising Suresh Raina and the excellent Ramesh Powar. And Irfan Pathan has reinvented himself as a player who both bowls and bats usefully. Given the situation, India can afford to persist with Virender Sehwag and Mohammed Kaif, because they will turn around sooner rather than later.

The only area in which India may have a problem at the World Cup is their outfielding. One-day fielding is all about extreme athleticism such as the Aussies display, and if you take away Yuvraj Singh and Kaif, India's ground fielding still looks very ordinary, particularly the throwing. This is something they will not get away with at the World Cup, and I would suggest bringing in throwing experts (American baseball coaches would do very well) and a fielder of the calibre of Jonty Rhodes to help out.

Finally, the fitness experts must take players like Powar in hand, and get all that fat off him. I'd rather suggest he put in some effort now than be laughed out of the park later.

Too much cricket

So as the cricket circus winds up in India, the team set off for Abu Dhabi, with the Caribbean tour round the corner. Obviously they, like a lot of other teams, are playing too much cricket, as many of us have been saying for some time. Since all good things outlive their purpose at some point, there may come a day when people simply don't bother to turn up for a game at all, because there will be another one next week, so might just as well watch it on TV. However, let's hope that day is far away! For now, the focus is on the Caribbean.

Gameplan

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