Panesar was named in England's tour squad on Friday

"I've always had my ambition to play for England," Panesar told BBC Radio Northampton after the announcement.

"I've still got a lot of work ahead of me and my focus is to keep working at my game and keep developing my cricket.

"I'm proud I'm the first Sikh to (tour with England) but I'm there to play cricket and my focus is on that."

Panesar could find himself making a Test debut in Nagpur on 1 March if Ashley Giles does not recover from hip surgery in time.

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Ian Blackwell is on stand-by in case Giles is unable to travel, and Hampshire's Shaun Udal is the other spinner in the squad.

The Somerset captain, also a left-armer, said: "It is a shame for Ashley but good news for me and I will be taking my chance with both hands and going all out to make the most of it.

"It's always been my ambition to play Test cricket so this would bring that a little bit closer. Just to be a member of the squad would be fantastic. �

"We will just have to see what happens over the next couple of weeks."

I know I've got a lot of hard work ahead of me, but I'm really thrilled Monty Panesar

But Panesar said he hoped Giles would be fit to make the trip.

"I hope he gets on the tour because he's a good all-round cricketer - a good batsman, good fielder - and I can learn from him," he said.

"I'm familiar with most of the players and it will be exciting to be involved with really good players who've just beaten the best team in the world."

Panesar has been criticised in the past for not working hard enough on his batting and fielding.

But he spent time before Christmas at Darren Lehmann's academy in Adelaide working on those aspects of his game.

"People like Shaun Udal and Ashley Giles work really hard at their game and they're really good cricketers and I've got to do the same," he added.

"It's a good opportunity for me to learn from other players like [Andrew] Flintoff and [Kevin] Pietersen as well - it's great for me to get involved and learn.