“Lack of practice not a worry for us” Alastair Cook

"Last two weeks have not been ideal but we are cricketers and we have to deal with that. We have been playing since mid-October and have been to the West Indies. We have been doing a lot of preparations and the three days in Abu Dhabi have been brilliant," said Cook.

"The preparation has not been ideal. But I have been here two years ago, having travelled half way round the world, had just one training session and played. It can be done. You don’t lose your technique overnight, it’s very much a mental battle," said the batsman, he scored a century in 2006 on his debut Test against India.

"It has been very tough and it is probably not the ideal build up but now we are here and we have a chance to play against a very good side in India. It is an exciting challenge and we are looking forward to it," he added.

"Huge first innings total is important for winning matches on dry wickets in India," Cook said.

"We have been talking as a group and especially in India, we have to make a massive score. If you get your big scores in the first innings, you really set yourself up. We saw that in Nagpur and Mumbai when we did score 400-plus. We put pressure on the opposition," he said.

"We have to prepare ourselves mentally. What’s happened recently has taken its toll but this side has got behind each other. There have been some very tough decisions individually and we are here to play as a unit," said the batsman.

"Everyone is entitled to their opinion and their writings," he said.

"We sat down and made decisions as a side through our security adviser and that’s been important. All other stuff does not affect the players. Our decision-makers decided to come here and play cricket and the issue was security. Everything outside had nothing do with us and we will let other people deal with that," he said.

Cook said, "Certainly not when you are out in the middle playing cricket. Of course it’s not the same. The situation is not ideal, we know that. But we are here to play cricket and we have made that decision."