Hussain backs England return

Former England skipper calls on team to return to India for Test series

Last updated: 2nd December 2008

Hussain backs England return

Hussain: urging England to return to India

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Former England skipper Nasser Hussain believes Kevin Pietersen and his England team owe it to Indian cricket to return to the subcontinent to fulfil their Test commitments.

The tourists cut short the seven-match one-day series and flew home to England following last week's terrorist attacks in Mumbai which claimed almost 200 lives.

England's players and management are now waiting on independent security assessments before deciding on whether to return to India for a two-match Test series with the contests now rescheduled for Chennai and Mohali later this month.

Hussain found himself with a similar decision in 2001 when he opted to press ahead with a tour to India following the September 11 attacks in America.

He is now hoping Piteresen adopts the same stance and believes it would be a chance to make a statement against the terrorists.

"Eventually, the game has to go on, just as people in London had to get back on Tubes and buses after the 2005 bomb attacks," Hussain wrote in the Daily Mail.

"As long as the security people say it is as safe as it can be to return and as long as the Indian people want the tour to continue, England can make a statement by going back."

However, he added: "When we toured India in 2001 under my captaincy just after the attacks on New York I had no problem accepting the decisions of Robert Croft and Andrew Caddick not to tour.

"I told them it would not be held against them and it should not be held against Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison or any other England players if they decide they are not prepared to go.

"I appreciate this is different because India itself has been targeted, but the country is so important to cricket and to the Indian people that we owe it to them to go back and play, as long as every possible precaution has been taken."