Here we go again as England are thrashed by India in India

Oh dear. A lot of fears were realised in Hyderabad today. This was just like the World Cup. This was just like England in the sub-continent since the year dot. This was all thoroughly depressing.

This was certainly the beginning of India’s Payback Plan. How the summer in England hurt them. “Wait till we get you on our own pitches,” they said. We laughed. But deep down, we knew. This was always going to be a fiendishly difficult series, especially when you lose the toss as England did today.

There was no pace and bounce to trouble the Indian batsmen, and how they loved it. There was actually a little uneven bounce, which meant that a total of 300 was way above par. England bowled reasonably well for 30 overs. For the last 20 they were awful. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, with the blades of his personalised helicopter shot whirling merrily, was quite magnificent. But England hardly bowled shrewdly at him.

At around the halfway stage England looked reasonably placed. Comparative scores were promising. But you can never rely on such an ending that the Indians managed. Alastair Cook needed to crack on. He played nicely. All the others played horribly.

The Jonathan Trott debate will be revived. And so it should be, despite the fact that is Warwickshire supporters will be enraged. He was slow again. This is not to say he should be dropped. I do not think that. He scores runs for fun. The record books are in his favour. When he scores runs, England generally win. But if he is to bat at No 4 as he surprisingly did today, then he should not play. He simply has to bat at No 3 or not at all.

And no less loud should be the Kevin Pietersen argument. He took one excellent catch, but otherwise fielded very poorly. He didn’t score runs again. What is happening, Kev? Time is running out in international one-day cricket.

What of Ian Bell? A very sound observer of the game recently told me that he thought Bell is currently the best batsman in the world. But he can’t make it into England’s one-day side. It is a curiosity.

Is Samit Patel really good enough to be a second spinner in ODIs? I’m not sure, and I was championing his cause before the World Cup, when I was lamenting his sloth as regards fitness.

These are a lot of questions that need answering. It is only one game, yes, but it is too familiar a scenario. Should we panic? How can England turn things around?

Thoughts please, especially from my Indian friends, who must be very happy again now!