England's Alastair Cook says duel between Nick Compton and Joe Root is wide open Many who know Root well claim he is not quite ready for Test cricket yet, as an opener, and in most parts of the world they would be right. But India, with its benign pitches, is hardly a baptism of fire for those facing the new ball and even spinners generally have to wait until the last five sessions of the match before finding anything extravagant in the surface. Cook made his Test debut as a 21 year-old in India in 2006, after he replaced an injured Michael Vaughan, so if anyone is prepared to give youthful talent its head, it should be him. "Joe wouldn't be in the squad if we didn't think he was ready to play," said Cook. My own situation was helped by the fact I'd been in Pakistan (the tour before India) with the team as cover for somebody and got to know the England system better. Without that I'd have felt very uncomfortable turning up in Nagpur where I made my debut. But Joe's been here since the start of the tour and has got to know the lads. Of the two, Root probably has to impress slightly more than Compton, as the latter was included for the first warm-up match, though his third-ball duck will add that extra bit of pressure this time. But he is a man who has dealt with failure before, having tasted England Lions at an early age only to suffer a prolonged dip in form that culminated in him changing counties from Middlesex to Somerset. One thing that will not distract the pair, as newcomers, is Pietersen's re-integration which even a gnarled old pro like Graeme Swann is saying has gone like a dream. "It's been a seamless process and it needed to happen," said Swann on Friday. Everyone was wondering how it would go and if it would be as easy as it has been, but a lot of credit has to be given to Kevin for the way he has come in. Swann will also sit this game out along with Matt Prior, the rehabilitating Steve Finn and two others, but he played with Pietersen in the opening match, so has spent three days in close company with him. It's just business as usual and the dressing room is a very happy place. And that's what we need to be if we are going to have a chance of beating India over here - we need to be a very united dressing room. According to Swann there has not even been any awkwardness and even the mickey taking, which perhaps got out of hand with the parody KP Genius Twitter account, has resumed. No one is safe in the changing room and he's the butt of as many jokes as Cooky. He takes it fine, so it's great. Because of the meetings beforehand where a lot was got out into the open and put on the table it was fine - with him walking back in and carrying on as if he'd never been away. Alastair Cook, Graeme Swann and Sourav Ganguly were promoting Jaguar jaguar.com and Castrol Edge castrolcricket.com