Two games down, Pietersen says series far from over

Indore, Nov 17 (UNI) Having reduced the margin of defeat in the second ODI here today, England captain Kevin Pietersen said his team's effort was considerably better than the performance at Rajkot and added that with five more matches to go, the series is far from over.

''I believe we certainly played good cricket today and were in the game till the time we lost it. We were totally out of the first game. I see it as an improvement,'' Pietersen told mediapersons after the 54-run defeat here.

England is now trailing 0-2 in the seven-match series but Pietersen said his team will regroup to come back hard at the Indians and the series can still go anywhere.

''We just want to be competitive by winning the next couple of games. Then we can get close to the series and I don't think that the series is over,'' he said.

The captain also admitted that his team had a fair chance to restrict India to a reasonable score after the home team was reeling at 29 for three, but he pointed out that Yuvraj Singh's heroics once again took the momentum away from them.

''We definitely failed to capitalise on it (29 for 3), but Yuvraj is a game breaker and it is difficult to get him out when he's playing like this. I would not have liked to change the line-up,'' he added.

In a light hearted tone, England skipper also added his team was so concerned about Yuvraj current form that he would take the left-hander to the hotel so that he does not reach Kanpur for the third ODI.

The third powerplay proved very crucial in both the innings and Pietersen admitted that his decision to take the third powerplay could have changed the momentum although it was spoiled later.

''The momentum had shifted away between the 15th and 30th overs and that's when we took it and the momentum came back.

''Our plan was that Freddie (Andrew Flintoff) would attack and I would try and play till the end. You need one big score on these wickets. But it did not happen,'' he regreted.

Pietersen also believes that if he and Flintoff would have extended their stay at the wicket, the result could have changed.

''Had Freddie and I stayed on we would have been competitive, but our bowlers had already given away too many runs,'' he said.

UNI XC RAR CS KN1958