England hopes crushed as Tendulkar triumphs

"I don't think by India winning or me scoring a hundred, people who have lost their loved ones will feel any better, but whatever manner we can contribute we'll make that effort."

While India celebrated, England reflected on missing out on what would have been a remarkable victory of their own after all the security concerns.

"It's a bitter pill to swallow, but we tried our hearts out," said Pietersen.

"The boys are not happy but I think both teams can be really proud with the way they have played Test match cricket over the five days. The tragedy in Mumbai obviously was not in the script and for both teams to put on a performance like they have done I think they can be really proud of themselves."

With strike bowler Steve Harmison entrusted with just six overs all day and No1 spinner Monty Panesar unable to pick up a single wicket on a helpful pitch, England failed to put India under enough pressure, especially while Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh were adding 163 unbeaten runs for the fifth wicket.

Pietersen, though, refused to blame today's bowling display, the inability to score more runs at a faster rate yesterday or a lack of preparation for this defeat. Our batters have done a fantastic job in getting us into a position where we think we should have won the Test," said Pietersen, who revealed he is playing with a fractured rib.

"People can nit-pick and talk about individuals and their performances, but we win as a team and lose as a team as well. I'm not going to start picking out individuals. We've just got to pick ourselves up for the next game.

"I said before the Test we were not going to use any excuses for losing or not putting on a real good performance. But I think our lads put on a fantastic performance over the five days - I'm so proud of that dressing room."

England coach Peter Moores said: "It was a hard day to watch. The lads have put everything into it but came out with nothing."