Kevin Pietersen has apprehensions about England's tour of Bangladesh

South African-born Englishman Kevin Pietersen’s career as an international cricketer might be all but over but that hasn’t stopped the 36-year-old from sharing his opinion on England’s scheduled tour of Bangladesh later this month. Pietersen claimed that he would have had a tough choice to make if he was still playing for England on whether to the tour the Asian country or not at this point of time due to the prevailing terror threat.

While the security assessment carried out by a 3-member ECB panel has perceived the risk to be minimal, thus making it almost certain that England would be going ahead with the tour as scheduled, Pietersen feels that a few of the players, especially the seniors in the Test side with family commitments, might be having doubts at the back of their mind about the security situation.

"It's not somewhere I'd like to be for the next six weeks," Pietersen told ESPNcricinfo. "The young ODI side might not have too many issues, but the older Test side might have a few issues. Some of the older guys might have kids and other responsibilities, and might think 'How can I get out of going to Bangladesh?' They may think of this as an opportunity to get out of a Bangladesh tour. They'll be looking at it. I know a lot of journalists don't want to go to Bangladesh. So it's going to be tough.”

While England ODI skipper Eoin Morgan had recently commented that no player would be forced to tour a particular country if he didn’t wish to, Pietersen said that taking such a decision was easier said than done.

"This is going to be one of the hardest decisions Alastair Cook has to make. Would I want to go? No. But I don't think one guy can pull out. If one goes, you've all got to go. It would be difficult to pull out of the tour," Pietersen said.

The swashbuckling cricketer found himself in a similar situation back in 2008 when as skipper of the England side. He led an almost full-strength Test side to return to India after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai had forced the side to abandon the tour midway and return home after the ODI series.

While he was at the forefront of those claiming that England should return to complete the tour as originally scheduled at the time, he admits that he would have had second thoughts about the issue now that he is a father of two.

"I didn't understand the circumstances of the guys who had kids at that time. I didn't understand it at all. That's why I've said I wasn't the right person to captain England at the time," Pietersen said, referring to how the episode affected his friendship with the likes of Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison.

"I think it damaged a lot of relationships for me with the side and senior players. I wish I wasn't the captain of England at that time. I did it before I had kids. It makes a huge difference. Your responsibilities change. Your priorities change. It would have been a harder decision," he added.