Chasing 282 for win, India could only garner 238, sliding to a 42-run defeat on Monday. The Indian batsmen showed, once again, their propensity to gift wickets to the opposition and Sachin Tendulkar set the example.
The veteran of nearly 400 one-dayers played a limp prod off James Anderson, his nemesis in this series, straight into the hands of Paul Collingwood at point. Dinesh Kaarthick followed Tendulkar’s footsteps when he scooped a slower one from Stuart Broad to Alistair Cook at covers and India found themselves on a marshy land.
It was not the kind of start the visitors might have had in their mind while chasing a formidable total. But skipper Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly steadied the boat during their third wicket alliance worth 104 runs.
Best phase
It was also the best phase of the Indian innings as the two veterans dominated the England attack with panache. Dravid has been in pristine touch in the one-day series so far and adopted a counter-attacking strategy that took the English bowlers by surprise.
The Bangalorean showcased a wide array of shots on either side of the wicket, but his on-side play was sublime on the day. There was even a power-packed six off Collingwood over mid-wicket that indicated his touch.
Ganguly, after a bright beginning that saw him play two silken smooth drives off Anderson, played the support cast to Dravid, and they seemed to take India to safety. But Chris Tremlett, perceived to be the weakest link in the English attack, brought the hosts back into the game with a twin strike.
First, he removed Dravid when the latter edged an incoming delivery onto the stumps and it was as much the triumph of the new fuller line adopted by the bowler. Then, Ganguly needlessly poked at a Tremlett delivery that was going away for Matt Prior to complete a superb catch behind the stumps.
India still had hope with Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to come, but the Jharkhand batsman played an uppish cut to Collingwood at point and returned to the pavilion. Yuvraj, the last stumbling block in England's way, was run out soon after a mix-up with Zaheer Khan and that sealed India's fate.
Restricted
Earlier, the Indian bowlers did not exactly exploit the favourable conditions, but they still restricted England to 281 with a largely disciplined performance in the middle overs after Dravid won the toss for the third time in a row.
It was once again Ian Bell led the hosts’ way with another gem of an innings. Bell had a fruitful association with Collingwood for the fourth wicket in which they realised 75 runs.
Their partnership was all about placing the ball deftly into the gaps and selecting the right occasion to play a big shot. Collingwood suddenly fell into a mood of inventiveness that spelt doom for the smooth sailing partnership. The Durham player tried to reverse sweep a vastly impressive Ramesh Powar and substitute Robin Uthappa grabbed a simple catch at square leg. Bell looked set to score his second hundred of the series, but a tame prod off Rudra Pratap Singh ended his stay at the crease.
The proceedings, however, began with the home side starting off the block at a frenetic pace, courtesy lusty hitting from Prior. He waded into Munaf Patel with some savage pulls and cuts and the paceman conceded 20 runs in his first two overs.
Prior's pre-determined slash off Munaf, however, brought the curtains down on the opening partnership that milked 76 runs. It was Piyush Chawla's turn to bother England. The leg-spinner had dismissed Kevin Pietersen with a peach of a delivery in the second one-dayer. Perhaps, that dismissal remained in Pietersen's mind as the Hampshire batsman tried to dominate Chawla at every available opportunity.
Probably, the arrogant and dominant batsman in Pietersen refused to surrender to an 18-year old bowler, and he danced down the pitch only to get beaten and Dhoni completed the formalities with minimum of fuss. Cook too departed soon.
The dismissals of Cook and Pietersen curtailed England's scoring pace as the Indian spinners came up with a tight spell in the middle overs. But the hosts went on to put enough runs on the board.

SCORE BOARD
ENGLAND
Cook c Yuvraj b Powar 40
(56b, 4x4)
Prior c Chawla b Patel 34
(40b, 4x4)
Bell c Kaarthick b RP Singh 79
(89b, 2x4, 2x6)
Pietersen st Dhoni b Pietersen 9
(22b, 1x4)
Cwood c Uthappa b Powar 44
(53b, 2x4, 1x6)
Shah b Yuvraj 19
(15b, 1x6)
Bopara c Dravid b RP Singh 10
(9b, 1x4)
Broad c Yuvraj b RP Singh 10
(10b, 1x4)
Tremlett (not out) 19
(9b, 1x4, 1x6)
Anderson (not out) 0
(0b)
Extras (B-1, LB-5, W-7, NB-4) 17
Total (for 8 wickets in 50 overs) 281
Fall of wickets: 1-78 (Prior), 2-92 (Cook), 3-118 (Pietersen), 4-193 (Collingwood), 5-226 (Shah), 6-246 (Bopara), 7-255 (Bell), 8-273 (Broad).
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 10-0-49-0 (w-1), Rudra Pratap Singh 9-1-55-3 (w-2+1), Munaf Patel 5-0-37-1 (nb-4), Ramesh Powar 10-0-45-2 (w-3), Chawla 9-0-50-1, Yuvraj 7-0-39-1.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 18/0, 10: 48/0, 15: 82/1, 20: 98/2, 25: 123/3, 30: 140/3, 35: 168/3, 40: 201/4, 45: 240/5, End of Innings: 281/8 in 50 overs.
Runs during Power Plays: Power Play 1: 1-10: 48/0, Power Play 2: 11-15: 34/1, Power Play 3: 16-20: 16/1.

INDIA
Ganguly c Prior b Tremlett 72
(104b, 9x4, 1x6)
Tendulkar c C’wood b Anderson 8
(19b, 1x4)
Kaarthick c Cook b Broad 0
(2b)
Dravid b Tremlett 56
(61b, 7x4, 1x6)
Yuvraj (run out) 45
(39b, 4x4, 1x6)
Dhoni c Dhoni b Anderson 13
(20b)
Powar c Bell b Collingwood 5
(13b)
Chawla c Bell b C’wood 1
(2b)
Zaheer b Panesar 11
(12b, 1x4)
RP Singh (not out) 12
(16b)
Munaf b Anderson 2
(3b)
Extras (LB-10, W-3, NB-2) 15
Total (all out in 48.1 overs) 239
Fall of Wickets: 1-35 (Tendulkar), 2-36 (Kaarthick), 3-140 (Dravid), 4-149 (Ganguly), 5-190 (Dhoni), 6-210 (Powar), 7-213 (Chawla), 8-214 (Yuvraj), 9-234 (Zaheer)
Bowling: Broad 9-1-34-1 (w-1), Anderson 9.1-3-32-3, Tremlett 8-0-57-2 (nb-2, w-1), Panesar 10-0-51-1, Collingwood 10-0-45-2 (w-1), Bopara 2-0-12-0.
Scoring Pattern: 5 overs: 21/0, 10: 35/1, 15: 62/2, 20: 91/2, 25: 114/2, 30: 140/3, 35: 175/4, 40: 197/5, 45: 224/8, End of Innings: 239 all out in 48.1 overs. 
Runs during Power Plays: Power Play 1: 1-10: 35/1, Power Play 2: 11-15: 27/1, Power Play 3: 16-20: 29/0.