Pietersen: We're ready

"This series is going to be very difficult," he said ahead of the one-day and Test series. "India is playing fantastic cricket right now and it is tough beating India in India.

"We've been playing good cricket as well, we beat South Africa 4-0. We're obviously looking to improve."

The batsman, on his first full tour as captain after taking over from Michael Vaughan during the home series against South Africa in August, said England were not thinking about gaining experience for the 2011 one-day World Cup to be played in the sub-continent.

"My thoughts are on this series," he said. "(The World Cup) is so far away it's not in my thoughts right now."

England were denied the chance to climb to second spot in the one-day rankings in September when the fifth and final match of the South Africa series was abandoned due to rain.

They are third in the rankings and the hosts fifth.

Last week, the Stanford Superstars crushed England by 10 wickets in the winner-take-all Twenty20 challenge in Antigua after the select West Indies team bundled out England for 99.

Pietersen had blamed the defeat on poor preparation.

"We went into that not knowing what was going to happen, and we learned a lot of things," he said on Friday.

"I'm a great believer in trying new things. You make mistakes some times ... you bump your head once or twice, but then you learn.

"Last week wasn't special but it absolutely has no bearing on what will happen here in India."

Left-arm paceman Ryan Sidebottom is nursing a calf problem and his recovery was being assessed, a team spokesman said.

Coach Peter Moores urged his players to adapt quickly.

"India's batting's always been strong and it is a real challenge playing here given the difficult conditions," he said.

England won last year's home one-day series against India 4-3 after losing 5-1 in their previous series in India in 2006.

India have rested Sachin Tendulkar for the first three games of the seven-match series starting at Rajkot on November 14.

The other games will be played at Indore (November 17), Kanpur (November 20), Bangalore (November 23), Cuttack (November 26), Guwahati (November 29) and New Delhi (December 2).

England also play two Tests in Ahmedabad (December 11-15) and Mumbai (Dec. 19-23).

The touring side play two warm-up games against a Mumbai XI on Sunday and Tuesday.