145;If it146;s unsafe, we won146;t return146;

England cut short their one-day series to fly home but may return in December for two Tests. The first Test is scheduled to start on December 11 in Ahmedabad, while the BCCI shifted the second from Mumbai to Chennai.

8220;We will make every effort to come back and play in the Tests but at the end of the day we need to make sure the security8217;s right 8212; if it8217;s not safe we won8217;t be coming back,8221; Pietersen told BBC Radio. 8220;I8217;ll never force anybody to do anything against their will. A man is a man and he can make his own decisions for himself.

In another statement to Sky Sports, the England captain said, 8220;On the field I may ask people to do things in a certain way but people run their own lives. It8217;s the right decision right now to get the boys out of here, to get them to their families, even if it8217;s only going to be for a couple of days.8221;

Modi slammed

Meanwhile, the English media was scathing in its attack on BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi for insisting that the tour would go on as scheduled. The Daily Mail described him as 8220;crass8221; and 8220;insensitive8221;.

8220;It is highly unlikely England will return whatever the cost to the ECB8217;s relationship with the Indian board and, specifically, Lalit Modi, the Indian administrator who pulls the strings here. He had earlier shown crass insensitivity by announcing that the series would go ahead as new explosions were taking place in Mumbai.

8220;It was as if the Indian administrator, who is taking over the game, was determined to make it as difficult as possible for England to make their escape, as if his insensitivity in proclaiming that the tour must go ahead was intended to cause maximum disruption to England and the man he has very much under his thumb, ECB chairman Giles Clarke,8221; the paper said.

The Daily Telegraph was equally critical. 8220;Lalit Modi8230;set the agenda with his blithe assurances that the Test series would go ahead. Modi is a single-minded character who does not like to see anyone or anything disrupting his plans, not even a human disaster on the scale of the one unfolding in Mumbai,8221; it said. The daily added that Modi8217;s one-point agenda seems to be to protect the interests of the Indian Premier League.

The Guardian said the millions at stake will ensure that the show goes on. 8220;Lucrative deals have made Indian officials determined to resume play in 2009. Powerful figures within the BCCI also have a stake in the matter. It appears that the ugly face of urban terror will not stop it, not with all those millions at stake,8221; the paper said.