Pietersen Fumes at Umpires As England Are Beaten By Bad Light

Kevin Pietersen bemoaned the inflexibility of the umpires and match referee for causing England to lose in controversial circumstances in Kanpur as bad light ensured that India went 3-0 up in the seven-match series. England's main problems in India have come from Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag, but this time it was Messrs Duckworth and Lewis, and their arithmetical tables for unfinished matches, that ensured further misery on their tour of India.

Despite a 45-minute delay for morning mist, the umpires, Russell Tiffin and Amiesh Saheba, only removed one over per side from the 50-over allocation, and a suggestion from England's coach, Peter Moores, that the lunch break be shortened was also turned down by the match referee, Roshan Mahanama, because of ICC regulations that stipulate at least a one-hour delay of the game is needed before the lunch break can be reduced to less than 30 minutes.

"I knew there was no way we were going to get the game finished," said Pietersen. "It is a very bitter pill to swallow. We tried to have a chat to see if we could get the lunch break shortened but we were told it was an ICC regulation that it had to be 30 minutes." Andrew Flintoff echoed Pietersen's dissatisfaction, calling it "a bizarre scenario".

Slow over-rates by both sides did not help. India bowled at 14 overs an hour as England totaled 240, and England were just above 13 when bad light ended the game with India 198-5 after 40 overs, enough for a notional 16-runs win.

Gary Kirsten, India's coach, said: "We just played the rules of the game. There was no blame attached to the umpires. They couldn't set up a game knowing there would be bad light later on. But, obviously, we had seen the light fade yesterday and we knew that it might come into play so we planned accordingly.''

India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said he always suspected that the contest would have to go to Duckworth Lewis. "We knew that it would come into play here because of the weather in this venue. It gets dark after 4.15pm," he said.

Pietersen warned India that the same problems could occur in the sixth ODI in Guwahati – a venue that England have tried to have switched without success. "It's in the north-east, they don't have floodlights, and even though we are starting at 8.30 it could be dark up there by 3pm,'' he said. "Somebody needs to look at it.''