Kevin Pietersen has claimed that there is no tension with England teammate Graeme Swann as the Test side prepare to face Pakistan next month.

Swann openly criticised Pietersen's ability to captain the national side in his book The Breaks Are Off. Despite the blow, the South African-born cricketer insists that the bowler's comments haven't 'affected' the team.

"Things are absolutely fine," ESPN quotes Pietersen as saying. "It was Swanny, Swanny likes to talk. It's not a clever book in the middle of your career, but it's not affecting anything that's going on in the team for sure.

"The team spirit we've got at the moment has been really hard work and really hard to get to such a great position. To support each other the way we support each other, that won't change, a book won't change anything like that.

"When we go to Abu Dhabi and Dubai in a couple of weeks' time, the team will be as united as ever, and that's not going to change for one second because of a book."

England will face Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in January.