Kevin Pietersen was frustrated at seeing England lose out to India by 16 runs on the Duckworth Lewis method in Kanpur.

With the light fading, the umpires took the teams off 40 overs into India's attempt to reach England's 240.

England are now 3-0 down in the seven-match series with four to play, and Pietersen was disappointed the remaining nine overs of India's innings could not be bowled.

"It is frustrating. It would have been nice to get a full match in today, but the weather dictated otherwise," he told Sky Sports 1.

"It was getting dark at 4.30. But the umpires made their decision, and that's the way it is - so we come out on bottom again."

Despite suffering his third successive defeat, Pietersen said there were 'positives' to be drawn from his team's latest performance.

"It's unfortunate to be on the losing side again, but there are definitely areas we improved on. We are getting closer," he said.

"We had a real a good chance of finishing on top. The boys came in, fought hard and showed aggression. When you play for England you play for the badge and you play hard - and today we had a real good go at it and showed real good character."

Pietersen now believes the key to overcoming India in the next match in Bangalore will be for one of England's top order to make a major contribution.

"It would be nice for one of our batters to get a big big score," he said.

"India have got two hundreds so far this series, and we haven't had one. At the end of the day we are getting closer, and there are still four games to go - so you never know.

"It's not good enough. We have to score more hundreds to become more competitive."

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni always thought conditions at the ground would mean the match would be decided on the Duckworth Lewis method.

"We knew that it would come in to play here, especially with the weather in this venue. It gets dark after 4.15pm," he said.

"I had a sheet in my pocket to check to see how we were doing on the method. We knew we had one more powerplay to go so we knew if we didn't lose a couple of wickets then we'd be okay.

"The important thing is that we win the series. Until we win the fourth match we have not won so we have to keep going."

Andrew Flintoff admitted losing to India on the Duckworth Lewis method had left the England team "with a bitter taste in the mouth".

"We went out there and gave it all we've got - so to finish it like that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth," said Flintoff.

"It's quite a bizarre scenario. As you can imagine, the lads are down in the dressing room.

"We were by no means favourites at the end. But if we had got two quick wickets then we'd be right back in it and thought we could pull something off. But it wasn't to be, and we are disappointed."

The Lancashire all-rounder insisted England could take heart from today's performance but acknowledged too they have a lot of work to do to save the series.

"I think throughout these three games we have got better and better. We have a couple more gears to go to reach our top level. If we had 30 or 40 more runs on the board today it could have been a different story," he believes.

"You can't fault the lads for the effort they showed today - we are getting closer to winning India. We've got a mountain to climb - but we have to climb it. We have no choice."