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 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 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 to go when Gautam Gambhir's catch 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. "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," Pietersen bemoaned.
"It is difficult because the slog-sweep is my favourite shot against a spinner and it is only now a case of the shot becoming a 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 lengths.
"It was a really productive shot for me last summer against Shane (Warne). 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."
