By Mark Richardson New Zealand batsman in India

The first Test in Ahmedabad is only hours away, the preparation is complete and we are ready for action.

I find this the most mentally challenging time in my career as a Test match cricketer - although the hours seem to fly past, it is the waiting that kills me.

Scoring a ton at Rajkot was a welcome confidence boost

There really is nothing more you can do. I'm sick of practice, yet always feel unhappy with my play in the nets and wonder if I should have spent longer working on my technique.

Even though I managed to bat an entire day for a century against India A, in the back of my mind I feel practice matches count for nothing and often only highlight what isn't going well.

I came here to score runs in the Tests. Now I just wait till the umpire yells play and Zaheer Khan starts to run in.

The next five days will mean intense pressure - the pressure placed on you simply because the opposition are good players and it is hard, as Test cricket will always be, and also the pressure you place upon yourself because you desperately want to succeed.

Feeling pressure is uncomfortable, it produces anxiety and self-doubt and it is only natural to want to avoid the things that make you feel this way.

We are all wary of the threat spinners Harbhajan and Kumble pose

However, in my opinion and definitely in my case, if you want to play at Test level - or any level that stretches your ability - you cannot escape pressure and discomfort.

This to me is what separates a winner from a loser; it is the ability to do your stuff under pressure.

I believe I will continue to feel this way as long as success at Test cricket is important to me.

This is why I'm never happy with my batting in the nets and in warm up games, why I always feel I need to improve, why I always feel short of the mark.

For now, I wait - waiting to do something I've always wanted to do and yet dreading having to do it.

Zaheer Khan is a much improved performer with the new ball

Talk about on edge. The poor little Indian kid who brought my lunch just got his head chewed off because the cheese in my toasted sandwich wasn't properly melted.

As for the Test match, who knows?

We have struggled to make any sort of impact with the ball on the flat wickets but I'm confident in our ability to score runs.

Bowling India out could be a real struggle.

We have done a heap of strategising and formulated plans A and B for each Indian batsman but for this to work the plans need to be appropriate and then we need to be good enough to carry them out.

I guess we'll know in five days time.