England protected by 5,000 police

England's cricketers will be protected by an unprecedented security force following their return to India.

The England squad flew to Chennai on Monday after deciding to head back to the sub-continent for the two-Test series following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Safety has been the primary concern for players and staff, and a spokesman for the Tamil Nadu police force revealed the scale of the operation for the first Test, which starts on Thursday.

"We are deploying over 5,000 people at the hotel and stadium. We have positioned 300 commandos at the hotel and 1,000 police at the outer periphery," he told the Daily Telegraph. "These men will be there until the teams leave the city. Two thousand police personnel will be on duty at the stadium until December 15, the last day of the Test."