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Pietersen: We may not return

28/11/2008

England captain Kevin Pietersen has admitted his squad may not return to India in full if they are not happy with the security in place.

Speaking before he flies home with the rest of the team tomorrow, Pietersen said he will not put any pressure on any of the players to return for the Test series in December if they do not want to.

England's one-day international series was cut short yesterday after terrorist activity in Mumbai, including several bomb explosions and gunmen taking hostages in hotels, accounted for more than 100 deaths and injured hundreds more.

And Pietersen said he fully expects the troubling events, which involved the targeting of Western tourists, to affect his players' desire to return for the two Test matches in Ahmedabad and another as-yet undetermined venue.

"We need to make sure the security's right - but if it's not safe then we won't be coming back," he said.

"The players are their own people, I'll never force anyone to do anything or tell them to do anything against their will.

"On the field I may ask people to do things in a certain way but people run their own lives. We'll have to see how the security is before we make a decision."

Meanwhile the vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Lalit Modi, has stressed that the two one-day matches that were called off could still be played at a later date.

"They have been postponed, not cancelled," he said.

"We will talk to the ECB about rescheduling, maybe next month or maybe next year."