Braving the terror scare, the England cricket team flew in to Chennai on Monday night in two batches to resume their India tour, which was interrupted by the Mumbai attacks.
The full-strength 16-member team, led by Kevin Pietersen landed in Chennai from the UAE -- a first batch arriving from Abu Dhabi followed by another from neighbouring Dubai within 20 minutes of each other. The contingent includes a 12-member support staff.
The team, which left India on November 28 after abandoning the last two ODI s of the seven-match series in the wake of the terror attacks, will play the first Test in Chennai from Thursday at the M A Chidambaram stadium. The southern city replaced Mumbai as the venue for the match.
The second Test is scheduled to be held at Mohali from December 19 although England has to formally confirm it.
Tight security arrangements were in place at the airport for the arrival of the team which got the final go-ahead to resume tour late Sunday night following security clearance from the England and Wales Cricket Board's security advisor Reg Dickason.