Eoin Morgan concedes England did not have the skill to chase down 382 against India in Thursday's second one-day international on what he described as a "magnificent day's cricket".
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England had India rocked at 25-3 in Cuttack, before Yuvraj Singh (150) and MS Dhoni (134) - at a combined age of 70 - used their experience to combine for a sublime fourth-wicket stand of 256 to guide the hosts to 381-6.
In reply, Jason Roy (82) and Joe Root (54) put on a century stand, while captain Morgan's superb 102 and a 55 from Moeen Ali at least gave England hope, but they came up short by 15 runs.
Consequently, India now have an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and Morgan acknowledged that England did not do enough to warrant victory.
"We probably weren't at our best with ball or the bat but we still competed and it's tremendously disappointing not to get over the line," he said.
"Bowling to MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh is very difficult at times. The margin for error is quite small and the challenge is to break the partnership a little earlier.
"We showed a lot of fight, we have a huge amount of talent. It's been a magnificent day's cricket.
"We have the belief that we can chase a score like that down - we chased 350 down before and nearly chased 398 against New Zealand.
"So there's a tremendous amount of belief, but we didn't have the skill to convert that belief."