Chester-le-Street: England white-ball captain Harry Brook on Tuesday said it would be a "privilege" for him to lead the country in Test cricket if offered the job following Ben Stokes' retirement.

England are on the lookout for a new Test captain after Stokes stepped down from the role. Brook's remarks came a day after Stokes publicly backed the 27-year-old to succeed him.

"It would be a great honour, a privilege to captain England in the highest format of our game," Brook said on the eve of the first T20I against India.

"The pinnacle, I think it is. Playing Test cricket is the greatest thing that I've ever done in my life and it's a dream, and something I've always wanted to do since I could speak.

"It's not up to me, that decision but if I got offered it, then I'd be happy to take it," he added.

Brook, however, was overlooked when England needed a stand-in captain for the second Test against New Zealand following the nightclub incident that forced Stokes to miss the match. The selectors instead turned to former captain Joe Root to lead the side.

Brook reiterated that his priority remains England cricket, pointing to his decision to give up lucrative franchise opportunities.

"I've committed completely to England cricket. I've said I don't want to play any franchise cricket barring the Hundred. Whatever I do, on and off the field, is to try and perform as well as I possibly can for England. I like trying to be fearless and putting pressure back on the opposition."

"Hence the reason I don't play in the IPL and PSL and all the other franchise competitions," said Brook, who was handed a two-year ban from IPL after withdrawing from his contract with Delhi Capitals last year.

He said he enjoys the attacking brand of cricket encouraged by head coach Brendon McCullum.

"I love working with Baz, he's a great bloke and an unbelievable coach, some of the things he's taught me throughout my career, giving us the opportunity to go out there and play in the style him and Stokesy wanted us to play, that suited me to a tee to start with.

"Then, it's just trying to evolve as much as you can as a player, take some of those learnings from the past, act on them in games."

The last time England and India met in the shortest format was during the T20 World Cup semifinal, which they lost by seven runs.

"I said in the press conference after the semifinal, we were never out of games. It felt like that the whole way through the World Cup," Brook said.

"We found ourselves in some tricky situations against some lesser sides, and then we ended up nearly chasing 250 against the world champions in the semi-final.

"So (we need) a bit more of that and evolving as a team well, tactics behind the scenes that I don't need to go into, but execution of those tactics and trying to upskill as much as we can," he added.

England host India for a five match T20I series, starting here on Wednesday. (PTI)