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Your support makes all the difference.Michael Vaughan fears for England's fortunes in the coming Test series against India if they cannot reverse their run of successive defeats in the one-dayers.
The former England captain arrived this week in Bangalore to train and play with the Performance Programme Squad as he attempts to recapture his form and try to force his way back into the selectors' thoughts.
Vaughan was present to watch India seal a comprehensive series triumph with three games remaining by clinching a 19-run victory in the fourth match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium which kept the tourists on course for a humiliating 7-0 whitewash.
Having lost the one-day series already, it would only be natural for England's players to look ahead to the two-Test series, which begins in Ahmedabad on 11 December, and focus their energies on achieving success in that.
But 34-year-old Vaughan is concerned that unless England can halt India's juggernaut before then, the momentum will be firmly against them when they take the field at the Sardar Patel Stadium for the start of the Test series.
"It's very difficult to come here and win, history suggests that, but if you can keep your spirits and keep that fight within the team when it is not going right that is important," said Vaughan.
"When you get to a stage when things do go right you can continue with that kind of spirit and commitment and you'll be fine.
"In these next three one-dayers we're going to have to get some kind of victory to give us a bit of a boost because the Tests are coming at the end of the tour and they're usually at the beginning."
He admitted: "It's going to be very, very difficult so we just want to try to lift ourselves with one or two victories in the next week. Hopefully we'll get three wins, but that looks a long shot.
"If we can win one or two games to give ourselves a lift in the Test series then hopefully we can perform well in those two games."
This tour is the first England have embarked on without Vaughan when he has not been injured since the 1998-9 Ashes tour and he has every sympathy with Kevin Pietersen, who succeeded him as captain following his emotional resignation last August.
Vaughan, who shared the stage with former Prime Minister Tony Blair at a leadership conference in Delhi en route to Bangalore, rates winning in India as one of the toughest assignments in world cricket and has been impressed with the way Pietersen has handled the setbacks in the first few weeks of the tour.
"This is the ultimate challenge for a captain along with Australia so at an early stage in his captaincy he's being asked to go to the hardest place in the world," explained Vaughan.
"He'll make mistakes as you always do, but I'm sure he'll learn from them. The one thing that I've been really impressed with is that they look like they're in good spirits.
"When you're 4-0 down and getting bashed you can easily lose your spirit in the team and it is your job as captain to try to keep them high. So far they've looked very good so from that point of view he is doing a good job."
Vaughan had hoped to be included in England's plans for this tour and returned to county cricket following his resignation as captain looking to score runs and force his way into the squad.
Instead, he struggled for form and scored only 43 in four championship innings for Yorkshire, forcing England to exclude him from the main party but Vaughan took matters into his own hands by volunteering to tour with the Performance Programme squad following a talk with wife Nicola.
"If I can get a score when I'm out here and look good in all the nets then I'll be looking to hopefully push for the tour in January (to West Indies) and if not then I'll have to start well for Yorkshire next summer and get back in early on next summer," he said.
"The West Indies is not out of the question and that is why I've come here to India. I'm not stupid either and I know I'm in the right place at the right time because it only needs a couple of injuries and they are going to select someone out of the Performance squad.
"At the time they were selecting it I didn't think I'd want to play cricket before Christmas, but three or four weeks ago I was sat on a sun lounger and said to Nicola 'I've got to get out and play, I'm ready.
He added: "My first 31 games as an England player were just as a batter and the last 50 odd games I've probably contributed just as much as a leader as a player.
"I'd like to finish my career by contributing with the bat and waving it to the lads on the balcony, that is what I'll look forward to. I'll bat anywhere but I'd hope it is in the top six!"
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