Author:
Publication: Press Trust of India
Date: December 4, 2008
URL: http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/7E6966A71A3B5CCD6525751500523DEF?OpenDocument
England's captain Kevin Pietersen today back-patted
his teammates for showing courage to stand "shoulder-to-shoulder"
with the Indian people following the terror attacks but admitted that a final
decision will not be taken until Sunday on whether to play the Test series.
Just before leaving for Abu Dhabi for a training
camp, Pietersen told a press conference at the Heathrow airport that he and
his players wanted to stand by the people of India in this hour of need.
The hijack threats at Indian airports has
again cast a shadow of uncertainty on the series and the team would wait for
a final report from security chief Reg Dickason before deciding whether to
travel to India early next week.
"We have to buy ourselves some more time
in Abu Dhabi. It's fantastic we have a bunch of players who went to India
initially and now want to go back and play some cricket.
"It's very important that we go shoulder
to shoulder with the Indian people in their time of need and go and demonstrate
in India what we want to do and show our support. Hopefully we'll play some
Test match cricket," Pietersen said.
The England captain admitted that pulling
out of England's commitments would have serious repercussions for the sport.
"Definitely the impact on world cricket
was at the back of my mind. It's something you think about. But at the end
of the day safety and security is paramount. That's the most important thing
in this situation and that's what we'll be getting on Sunday from the security
team", he said.
