Kevin Pietersen insisted the England captaincy would not alter his attacking style as he celebrated his first innings as skipper with a fine hundred, reports BBC.
Pietersen's 100 helped England to 316 at The Oval with South Africa resuming 85 runs behind Saturday.
"[The century] does mean more because of the scrutiny," said Pietersen.
"I didn't think the captaincy affected me because before the game I still did the right things and the right amount of work I normally do."
Pietersen added: "In terms of me and how I've been playing I have been getting hundreds and scoring runs.
"There was a lot of scrutiny that went with this match but I was so happy when I flipped the coin yesterday.
"I just went out and expressed myself today knowing I needed to score some runs and we needed to get a lead.
"I don't like to make mountains out of molehills, I just like to be as simple as I can.
"I built an innings, played straight, played in my areas, played a few shots which were funky I suppose but just got on with it."
England's position of dominance owed much to Pietersen, who became the fourth player to score a century on his debut as England's Test captain.
The 28-year-old was disappointed to edge Makhaya Ntini to slip just two balls after reaching his 14th Test ton but insisted his first two days in charge of the team could hardly have gone better.
"In terms of my relationship with the players, I have to keep growing that," the 28-year-old added.
"That has come on leaps and bounds in the four days I have been in charge.
"I am getting to learn a lot more about how the guys operate, and you have a really different perspective.
"You really want them to do well for them, for you, the team. It's really a holistic thing."
Steve Harmison's 49 not out was his highest first-class score, surpassing the 42 he made against the same opponents in Cape Town in 2005.
The Durham seamer looked set for his maiden half-century before Monty Panesar was run out for the second time in two Tests to bring England's first innings to a close.
Harmison and James Anderson came together after the hosts had slumped from 219-3 to 263-8 and batted with supreme confidence.
"I wasn't happy with myself for getting out then but I'm very happy with the situation the team is in and how we performed," Pietersen said.
"My first two days have been great, I've just tried to go out and play my normal game."
"Things can only get worse at the moment. We're riding this wave and hopefully we can do more good stuff tomorrow. We're going to have to do some hard yards."
Pietersen relishes responsibility
FE Team | Published: August 10, 2008 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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