England [Images] coach Duncan Fletcher has warned his side against overzealous use of the sweep shot in the second one-dayer against India on Friday.

Five English batsmen fell after attempting the risky shot in Tuesday's 39-run loss when England had looked on-course for the victory.

"They've got to be just more selective sweeping," Fletcher told reporters on Thursday.

Also Read Dravid wary of Pietersen, Flintoff India losers at Faridabad

"It's an effective shot, lot of sides in the sub-continent do it. We saw (India captain) Rahul Dravid [Images], he is a great batter who plays it effectively.

"It's like any shot, you make sure your decision-making is good."

Fletcher said the absence of experience was a significant factor in the loss.

Captain Michael Vaughan [Images], fast bowlers Simon Jones and Steve Harmison and spinner Ashley Giles are injured while opening batsman Marcus Trescothick [Images] pulled out of the tour due to personal reasons.

"We were caught napping a bit with inexperience," Fletcher said. "They still need to learn how to play in certain situations in one-day cricket."

FLINTOFF MILESTONE

Fletcher highlighted the role played by stand-in captain Andrew Flintoff [Images], who will play his 100th one-day international on Friday.

"It just shows it is special, especially for an all-rounder," he said. "It's nice to see he has got to 100 and he is feeling pretty strong.

"Hopefully, with all that pressure he will continue to enjoy it and doesn't get too much for him, the three departments of the game."

But he also urged the explosive Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen [Images] to show more maturity when batting together.

"At the end of the day they are going to be batting together on numerous occasions," he said. "They just got to learn how to bat together.

"There is no use saying this could happen in a final. The more they do that now, it will be better for the side."

England were training in Delhi as the 80-km round trip to Faridabad would take around three hours due to heavy traffic. The team travelled around 400 km by bus to see the Taj Mahal [Images] on Wednesday.

India's main concern was all-rounder Irfan Pathan [Images], who missed Thursday's practice due to the flu and a sore throat.

Dravid said a decision on Pathan would be made only before the game but gave his backing to opener Virender Sehwag [Images], who is nursing a back problem.

He also appealed to Indian fans to show more patience with the team after Sachin Tendulkar [Images] and Sehwag were booed on their home grounds for poor scores.

"We'd like to be supported much more when we are down," he said. "I do understand it is the nature of one-day cricket, you get praise if you do well, you are criticised when you don't.

"It would be nice to have some perspective on it."