Pietersen happy to trust Yuvraj

Kevin Pietersen accepted the legitimacy of Yuvraj Singh's runner after his brilliant century condemned England to defeat against India.

The England captain agreed to allow India batsman Yuvraj a runner after he complained of a back strain midway through his innings in today's opener to the seven-match series.

Pietersen's decision to grant the request helped Yuvraj hammer a stunning unbeaten 138 off 78 balls, which included 16 fours and six sixes, and propel India to a daunting 387 for five before completing their 158-run victory by dismissing England for 229.

Yuvraj Singh reaches his ton flanked by partner Mahendra Singh Dhoni and runner Gautam Gambhir

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It was their highest score against a Test-playing nation and the highest ever conceded by England, but Pietersen insisted England were not concerned by Yuvraj's ability to perform so brilliantly despite apparently suffering from a bad back.

"I did mention it at half-time, whether Yuvraj would be fielding seeing as for an hour and a half he was hitting us to all parts of Rajkot," explained Pietersen.

"He came into the game perfectly fine and injured his back during the fixture so it's only fair (he had a runner). If it happened to one of us then it's only fair we had the same - I'm not going to make a storm over it.

"You have to trust a man. I can't see whether somebody's in pain so you have to trust somebody. I don't think he would have called them on and got a runner and made a whole big thing about it if there wasn't a problem."

Yuvraj's onslaught followed a 127-run opening stand between Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag in just 19.5 overs after Pietersen won the toss and decided to bat first.

"I was speaking to (India captain Mahendra Singh) Dhoni after the game and we agreed that if anything was going to happen it would have happened first thing this morning but unfortunately it only happened for about three balls," said Pietersen.

Singh writes in agony after he sustained a back injury pushing for a second run off Kevin Pietersen

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"I'm not used to that kind of result at all, but if you captain England for a long time those things are going to happen. I hate losing but when you get Yuvraj Singh playing like that and Gambhir and Sehwag starting off the innings like that you're behind it.

"We're 1-0 down but there's still six games left in the series and we're going to have to be mentally strong to try and come back and hit India hard on Monday."

Yuvraj, who also had to wear a back support but did not field during England's 37.4 overs innings, insisted his back problem was a new injury - but refused to rule himself out of contention for Monday's match in Indore.

"When Pietersen was bowling I pushed for a second run really hard and I think I slightly pulled my back," he explained. "I wasn't surprised they gave me a runner because it was an injury from the match - I wasn't carrying the injury into the match.

"I was struggling with the pain so it was good to have a runner. We'll have to assess whether I will be fit for Monday but I'm looking forward to it."