London: Former captain David Gower is impressed by the persuasion skills of England captain Kevin Pietersen, who convinced his scared teammates to land in Abu Dhabi for the preparation of the Test series against India.

Gower said Pietersen was smart enough to convince even the reluctant duo of Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison as their absence would have made England very vulnerable.

“I have no idea what was said in those phone calls or how Pietersen made his pitch but I can imagine that the way to sell the training camp in Abu Dhabi was relatively simple,” Gower wrote in his column for The Times.

“It would have been easy enough to tout the Three Musketeers’ “All for one and one for all” line, with the attached assurance that going to the Middle East did not necessarily mean everybody had signed up for the next, potentially more dangerous step,” he said.

The former skipper said, by convincing his teammates to be ready to travel to Abu Dhabi en route to India, Pietersen had done a lot of good to his image as India’s friend.

“It works on all levels. Pietersen is shown to be a true leader. The team show willing and, as the captain said, can be seen to be ready to stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with the Indians in their time of crisis,” he said.