Alastair Cook's England left their captain in a state of near disbelief last night after they lost all ten wickets for 47 runs as India completed a series whitewash.

Cook will travel home today - he is not required for Saturday's one-off Twenty20 back at Eden Gardens, the scene of yesterday's 95-run defeat - somehow trying to come to terms with what he has witnessed.

England seemed to have given themselves a chance to salvage some belated pride as Cook (60) and his fellow opener Craig Kieswetter (63) raced to 129 for none in little more than 20 overs in reply to 271 for eight.

Yet within an hour, the game was up - 13 overs early - England recording a fifth successive defeat, and fourth by a landslide margin.

As Cook reflected on the latest chastening experience of a hapless tour, his first as England's permanent one-day international captain, he struggled to make sense of it all.

"It's a bit of a shock, that," he said.

"We were in control. We know you can lose ‘clusters' in the sub-Continent, but we didn't think you could lose all ten."

England were, in fact, simply revisiting - in some style - the failings which have haunted them at each venue over the last 11 days.

Ravindra Jadeja (four for 33) and R Ashwin (three for 28) took most advantage of their problems against spin, in difficult conditions.

"We haven't batted well enough on this tour, and that really just caps it off," added Cook.

"We bowled really well. We know how hard it is against MS Dhoni, and credit to him again for getting them to probably a slightly above-par total.

"But I thought the way Steven Finn bowled especially was outstanding again, as he has been on this tour. Then at 130 for nought, their total almost looked quite a long way short.

"But our batting hasn't been good enough, and that's why we've lost these games."

Cook remains at a loss to explain the reasons for England's unexpected problems on a tour they began with high hopes, albeit in the knowledge all along that India would be tough to beat on their own patch.

"I'm not quite sure why," he said.

"Possibly you could say inexperience - not many of us have played out here before - but I don't think it is that. We just haven't performed under the pressure that you need to out there.

"I think winning is a habit, and losing certainly is a habit as well."

England beat India 3-0 in the same format just last month. But the memory of that apparent superiority has fast become faint and distant.

"Possibly back in the summer, if things were going well at 130 for nought we'd have probably walked that.

"But when the confidence isn't great and you lose a couple of quick wickets it's hard to stem their flow - especially when their confidence is so high.

"There was certainly no throwing in of the towel, the way we handled ourselves and kept trying. Unfortunately, our skills weren't good enough out there."