Nasser Hussain was fulsome in his praise of the Indian team after England suffered an eight-wicket thrashing which put them out of the Champions Trophy. "India just played exceptionally well. Sometimes you just have to give credit where it's due," he said. "We've played against India a lot and have studied their game carefully. We know what areas they do most of their hitting and have thought of a few ways to restrict that.

"It just didn't work today, though. The first eight overs they bowled were very difficult for our batsmen, and again when they batted their first 15 overs were very good."

Hussain conceded that England needed to show more character in pressure situations. "Both the openers came at us strongly and we didn't have an answer. We're all right when teams don't quite come at us as strongly as this, and we'll have to work out ways to counter this."

"We tried a few variations [to contain the Indian openers] today, like slower balls and bumpers. But everything we bowled seemed to go for four. In English conditions, where the ball does a bit more off the wicket and in the air, you don't need to do much more than put the ball in the right place. In conditions like this you need more variations."

He was quite satisfied with England's batting performance though. "In the last year or so the batting has not been a cause for worry. Even today I thought the middle order batted exceptionally to take us to 270."

Sourav Ganguly showered praise on Virender Sehwag, whose 104-ball 126 made light of that target of 270. "Sehwag's century took the game away from England," he said. "He was brilliant and took the pressure off us. The way he batted he took the sting out of the England attack. The game was in our pocket when he was dismissed. We were not going to lose from that position."

"The win at Lord's in the NatWest Trophy final and then the Test victory at Headingley mean more to me than this one, but every victory is satisfying at international level."

It was the 11th ODI between India and England over the last nine months. The six-match series in India was shared 3-3, but England have managed just one more win in the next five matches. The two teams will have to wait five months before their next clash – in the World Cup preliminary-round match on February 26.

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