"We came here with very little preparation for the series with the red ball against such a great side," said Pietersen.

"India is playing fantastic cricket at the moment, confident and without fear, they are on top of their game especially in India.

"But we gave ourselves a good chance in Chennai, some good stuff on that Monday but Sachin Tendulkar took it away from us."

Tendulkar hit his 41st test century as India achieved a then fourth-highest final innings target of 387. It is now fifth in the all-time list.

Although the Mohali test, shifted out of Mumbai, was badly hit by poor light due to the northern Indian winter, England also owed the draw to a masterly 144 from Pietersen on the third day.

Pietersen, who took over as captain in the home series against South Africa in the summer, said the last couple of months had been difficult as a Stanford Twenty20 debacle in Antigua was followed by the one-day series rout in India.

"It has been the toughest six to eight weeks of my career so far," he said. "To score a hundred like I did meant a lot to me."