Kevin Pietersen yesterday shouldered the blame for England's horrific collapse which swept them to defeat in the opening match of the one-day series with India.

England were cruising towards their victory target of 204 on Tuesday at the Feroz Shah Kotla when Pietersen hoisted a full toss to deep midwicket to trigger a landslide of seven wickets for 47 runs.

Although the 25-year-old reigning International Cricket Council one-day player of the year was one of only two to perform with the bat, the nature of the 39-run loss niggled him.

Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff had narrowed the equation to 87 runs required with more than 30 overs remaining when Gautam Gambhir's second catch of three in the deep gave part-time spinner Yuvraj Singh a success and India a glimmer of hope.

''I don't feel great this morning, in fact it is one of the worst mornings I've had in terms of losing a game,'' admitted Pietersen.

''I don't feel good about myself at all; if I had got out and we had won the game I would feel a lot easier.

''It is not nice knowing I started the collapse, especially getting out caught on the deep midwicket boundary.

''It is a game we should definitely have won and it is disappointing to wake up and deal with the reality of losing seven for 40-odd - it was a heck of a disappointment.''

Pietersen stands out as the best current player of spin in the England team and while his tactic of slog-sweeping got him into trouble for once, his team-mates continue to perish to the stroke: half the side fell in attempting it, including Flintoff moments after Pietersen departed.

''I know we only needed three an over to win the game but that is probably the first full toss in international cricket I have hit to the man on the boundary,'' said Pietersen.

''It is difficult because the slog-sweep is my favourite shot against a spinner and I think it is only now a case of the shot becoming a massive problem because we lost the game.

''When I look back I think 'Why, why, why?' but then again if it went for six it might have been a totally different story.

''There is no spin bowler in the world that likes to be swept or slog-swept because it just messes up his line and length.

''It was a really productive shot for me last summer against Shane (Warne).

''He thought he was bowling a good ball but it was going over cow corner for six or four.

''It is a scoring shot which makes the bowler think 'I've bowled a good ball but I am still getting scored off'.

''He tries something different which gives you a lot more freedom to score off looser balls.

''Sometimes it is a shot which is premeditated, sometimes it's not.

''I play on instinct a lot and sometimes I think it is time for me to start manipulating the field and other times I think it is there and my eyes just light up.''

The raucous 40,000 crowd were stunned into silence by the counter-assault of Pietersen and Flintoff after the tourists lost two wickets in the first over.

Flintoff contributed more than two-thirds of the 60-run share for the fourth wicket but Pietersen insists their latest separation was not down to a hitting contest between England's two power batsmen.

''It was an awesome atmosphere, it was mostly against us but that was as good as it gets in international cricket,'' said Pietersen.

''I don't think anyone ever gives up and India certainly didn't but I do think that when Fred and I were going we should have finished the game off.

''I love batting with Fred and we actually feed off each other, there is no rivalry at all.

''It definitely makes us calmer because we know that the other is scoring.

''The perfect example was in the Ashes Test at Edgbaston last year, when I was on about 30 or 40 when Fred came in and he went to 70 before I got to a half-century.

''Yesterday was the same; I had 30-odd when Fred came in and when I got out for 46 he was on 41 already.

''It is not a case of us trying to outdo each other.

"Batting with him makes me feel I can knock it about but I got a full toss which I wanted to try to hit for six.''

The demise which followed is becoming a worrying trend for England this winter.

Faced with a similar size chase in Rawalpindi before Christmas, England slumped to 114 for eight before going down by 13 runs to Pakistan.

The tourists will need to address their failures ahead of tomorrow's second match in Faridabad, where Flintoff will become only the 11th Englishman to win 100 one-day international caps.