ENGLAND today began their journey home from India with captain Kevin Pietersen admitting he does not know whether they will return for the Test series.

The tourists announced yesterday they would be flying back because of security concerns following the terrorist attacks on Mumbai, which have resulted in over 100 deaths and more than 250 injuries.

The final two one-day internationals have already been cancelled, but players have yet to decide if they will return for the Test series, which is due to start in Ahmedabad on December 11.

“I haven't a clue (whether we'll come back)," said skipper Pietersen. "The decision to go back to London will buy us some time and if we need to fly back to India on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday next week then so be it.

“Right now, all we want to do is go home because of what we've seen and the fact we've woken up this morning and the saga is still continuing in Mumbai.

“The guys were happy as anything in Mumbai in the two weeks we were there. The way of life in Mumbai is fantastic and that way of life, which is the best way of life in India, has now gone.

“I bet all the guys lost a whole battery on their mobiles yesterday with calls from friends and relatives and kids wanting to know where daddy is. It's a real situation and we're being taken out of the situation and we'll make a decision on it over the next 48 to 72 hours.”

Before that decision is made, assurances over the team's security will have to be given and England have instructed security advisor Reg Dickason to report on the situation in India before any possible return.

But with lucrative television contracts tied into the Test series, Pietersen expects pressure to be applied by the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) for England to return - even though it has been confirmed the venue for the second Test, orignially scheduled for Mumbai, has been moved to Chennai.

“It will be a security decision and then we'll be guided by the ECB,” confirmed Pietersen. “Reg is going to come back here and he'll ring me and tell me what's going on.

“I do think the BCCI will make every single effort to get us back here playing Test match cricket in India. There are TV rights and financial considerations and they run world cricket don't they?

“But we will not come back to this country if it's not safe. My life means more to me than anything else and I won't come back if it's not safe.”

Pietersen has confirmed no player will be asked to return to India if they do not feel comfortable with the decision, stressing: “I'm not going to force any adult who has got a wife and kids and things like that to do anything - I would never force anyone to do anything they don't want to do.

“Before (the) Stanford (Super Series) I was asked if I was going to make anyone give the money to charity but these are grown men who are older than me and I would never tell anyone what to do.”

The players' desire to return may have also been clouded by coverage of the terrorist attacks on Indian television, which have left many of them stunned after witnessing pictures of troops storming the same hotel foyer they had mingled in just two weeks earlier.

The England captain revealed: “The television coverage here has been pretty graphic. I've heard back home it's not been like that but out here you see pools of blood, you see everything that has been going on.

“We've woken up this morning and seen more pictures of people jumping out of helicopters where we were two weeks ago. It's really made the guys aware and shocked them.

“We were there two weeks ago in that vicinity - I walked down those steps and met some mates on a boat, right in that bay, just two weeks ago.”

Should England, against expectations, decide India is safe enough to return, they are likely to be thrown straight into the first Test with very little practice, with their only warm-up game due to start in Baroda a week today, although they are considering training in Abu Dhabi or Dubai instead en route to India.