England's two-Test series in India got the go-ahead after the players were assured at a meeting on Sunday there would be no threat to their safety.

England are due to fly from Abu Dhabi to India with a full squad today.

"It's a brave and courageous decision that will be respected around the world," said England & Wales Cricket Board managing director Hugh Morris.

England's one-day series in India was cut short after the 26 November terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Following the attacks, players and staff returned home and were given time alone to decide whether they wanted to return for the Tests, before flying to Abu Dhabi where they have been holding a training camp.

The ECB announced the decision to go ahead with the tour after a two-hour meeting on Sunday, before which it was revealed both Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison were harbouring doubts about the tour.

"It's obviously been a very emotional 10 days or so since the atrocities in Mumbai," added Morris.

"We've had a lot of discussions with the players following a number of security information audits we've had from the very highest levels of government and our own security team.

"It has been a very difficult situation, a very emotional, sensitive time for everybody and it has been hard for the players to come to this decision but they all have, and we are looking forward to the challenge of playing India."

Hugh Morris and Sean Morris, chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, as well as security adviser Reg Dickason, have spent time in India assessing the level of threat and security measures in place.

"I'm well aware the population of India and the Barmy Army [England's travelling fans], in their various guises, are extremely keen for these games to proceed," Giles Clarke, chairman of the ECB, told BBC Radio 5 Live earlier on Sunday.

"And we are determined not to let terrorism do the game of cricket down. It is critical, just as it was after 9/11 in the US, for normal life to resume and for people to be able to carry out their normal activities in defiance of whatever an unpleasant group of men might try to do."

However, fast bowler Harmison had said he was prepared to return home if he felt it was the right decision.

"Whatever we hear at our security briefing, I reserve the right to make my own decision to fly home on Monday if it is the right thing to do," he wrote in the Mail on Sunday.

"On the one shoulder a voice has been telling me: 'Stuff the terrorists. Get in there, play the Test and give it your best shot.'

"Then the man on my other shoulder pipes up: 'You are going into a country some are describing as a war zone. You've got a family and four kids. Is it right to put yourself at risk?'"

The England team went home last Saturday following the attacks in Mumbai, which claimed almost 200 lives over three days.

The first Test will take place from Thursday 11 December in Chennai, while the second Test is pencilled in for Mohali and is scheduled to start on 19 December.

The first Test was moved to Chennai from Ahmedabad, while the second Test was scheduled to take place in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Asad Rauf has had to step down as an umpire for the scheduled first Test as he could not get the proper visa, according to the International Cricket Council.

Pakistan nationals require city-specific visas when travelling to India and Rauf, who will be replaced by New Zealand's Billy Bowden, was issued visas for the original Test venues.

Story from BBC SPORT

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