England captain Kevin Pietersen has acclaimed veteran batsman Sachin Tendulkar "a magician" after his century helped India to a record run chase to win the first Test.

Tendulkar, nicknamed the 'Little Master', struck an unbeaten 103 which included a boundary for the winning runs as the hosts successfully chased down their victory target of 387 with six wickets to spare in Chennai.

And afterwards Pietersen, who has been criticised by some pundits for his field placings, admitted he found it difficult to stop the 35-year-old.

"The 'Little Master' from Mumbai - when he came in, as a skipper when you're trying to set fields to a magician like that it's very difficult," he said.

"Our boys tried our hearts out. We didn't just come here to compete we came here to win, and unfortunately we got pipped today."

Pietersen said the defeat was "a very bitter pill to swallow", having dominated the match for the first three-and-a-half days.

But said he was still proud of his players for playing the match in the first place after they collectively decided to return to India after leaving because of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai a fortnight ago.

"Our boys are hurting but we'll come back strong," he continued.

"Both teams can be really proud in the way they've gone about this Test match.

"To start just two weeks after the tragedy in Mumbai, it's a fair show on both sets of players.

"There are lots of positives to take from our dressing room - the effort everyone's shown, jumping on a plane to come back here and coming in and putting in a fantastic performance against India."
© Adfero Ltd