Flintoff was among the early casualties as England struggled

Flintoff made a duck as his side were shot out for 125 and he said: "I don't think you can take anything away from Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel.

"They bowled fantastically at the start and made it difficult for the batters.

"There was a little bit of invariable bounce but the bowlers put it in the right place to exploit that."

Interview: England captain Andrew Flintoff

India were heading for a rapid victory when Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag punished some wayward bowling early on.

But pacemen Steve Harmison and James Anderson, and spinner Jamie Dalrymple, took two wickets each to give the hosts some anxious moments towards the end.

We never gave up, we kept coming and pegged them back in the end Andrew Flintoff

Flintoff says his players will draw on that going into the must-win games against world champions Australia next Saturday and West Indies on 28 October.

"We probably started badly with both bat and ball and were always chasing the game," he added.

"India got off to a flier but I was pleased with the character the lads showed. We never gave up, we kept coming and pegged them back in the end.

"We've got to learn from this, we'll talk about it and come back stronger.

"We know exactly what we need to do now: if we want to get into the semi-finals we've got to win two games and come back strongly next Saturday."