Patel swings it

James Tredwell is the sort of unassuming type you might meet pushing a shopping trolley around his local supermarket, pausing to check whether the artichokes are in season. He replaces Graeme Swann with the air of a locum and lacks Swann's sharp turn or devilry, but his offspin is well crafted all the same and his best England figures of 4 for 44 - four out of India's top five - prepared the ground for England's victory.

Ashley Giles was asked before the match if he regarded Duncan Fletcher as the best coach he had played under. "I wouldn't say he was and I wouldn't say he wasn't," was the gist of his reply. He clearly knows a loaded question when he sees one. Giles had the upper hand in Rajkot, though, winning his first match in charge of England's limited-overs team while another defeat will have done nothing for Fletcher's draining popularity.

When Samit Patel replaced Kevin Pietersen at the crease, England were 255 for 4 with 37 balls remaining and by no means unassailable. They added a further 70 with Patel responsible for an unbeaten 40 from 20 balls, one of his most assertive innings for England. His Test series did not entirely go to plan, but he has proved himself an assured batsman in Asian conditions.

Perhaps somebody should have a word with R Ashwin? His deliberate delay in his delivery stride, presumably adopted to help him second-guess a batsman, as well as breaking a batsman's rhythm, is simply not working. It was an over-complication which did him few favours, leaving him the least impressive spinner on view - and that included part timers such as Suresh Raina and Joe Root.

There are times when Jade Dernbach becomes so consumed by the need for variations that they seem to do him more harm than good. He would have been better advised, for example, to concentrate on sorting his line out to the left handers. When he started the 45th over with a slow leg-side wide to Ravindra Jadeja, the frustration of his captain, Alastair Cook, was obvious. Two balls later, he had dismissed MS Dhoni, a slower delivery of full length which Dhoni failed to muscle over long off. All was instantly forgiven.

India's list of impressive new stadiums grows ever larger. The Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium might not have a catchy name, but for its first international match it produced an excellent batting surface and a glassy outfield. In general terms, it will require better toilets, more imaginative catering and more respectful crowd management for Indian grounds to achieve their full potential, but the progress has been impressive nonetheless.