Pietersen said it was a close shave for the English cricketers. “We were 800 miles from the attack but suddenly we felt very vulnerable, especially as we had stayed at the targeted Taj Mahal hotel just two weeks ago. It could have been one or all of us being carried out in a body bag. And when you see something like that you sense danger around every corner,” he added.

“And when you hear that the terrorists are singling out English tourists it sends a shiver down your spine. In cricket-mad India who could be more high profile than the England team? And who could be more high profile than their captain? It makes my blood run cold,” Pietersen said.

However, his predecessor Michael Vaughan cautioned that playing in India after the recent events would be like being in a “military camp”.

“The tour, if it goes ahead, will become like a military camp,” Vaughan said, even as he doubted if the Indians were themselves prepared to play after the mayhem. “And what about the Indian players? You’ve got to feel for those guys. Some of them live in Mumbai like Sachin Tendulkar. It has to have an effect on the Indian players,” he was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph’

Kolkata to host first Test?

Meanwhile, sources in the BCCI say the venue of the first Test, scheduled to begin on December 11, could be shifted to Kolkata from Ahmedabad. The second Test, initially scheduled to be held for Mumbai, has already been shifted to Chennai.

... contd.