Alastair Cook is set to discuss his future as Test captain with Andrew Strauss, England’s director of cricket, on Friday.

Cook is believed to be preparing to stand down from the position he has held for more than four years ahead of his talks with Strauss in London.

Sources close to the England squad preparing for the one-day series in India say they are confident Cook will remain as Test captain.

The England & Wales Cricket Board is also sticking to the line that Cook’s meeting with Strauss is nothing more than a normal post-series debrief and that no decision on the captain’s future will either be announced or made in the next few weeks.

With England’s next Test series against South Africa not starting until July, there is little need for any decision to be rushed.

However, the truth is Cook appeared a resigned figure following England’s humiliating 4-0 series defeat in India before Christmas and unless there has been a dramatic change of heart over the past few weeks he is likely to stand down and allow Joe Root to succeed him as captain.

Even in the eventuality that Cook decides to stay on, the ECB would be well advised to clear up the captain’s future sooner rather than later or risk the issue clouding England’s preparations for the Champions Trophy on home soil this summer.

Clarity would be helpful for all concerned, although one source has suggested the ECB are keen to prevent any news on Cook’s position being released until after England’s limited-overs tour of India is concluded early next month.

That is likely to prove impossible if, as expected, Cook and Strauss come to a definitive agreement at the end of this week.

Cook endured painful defeat with his team mates in India (AP)

Strauss has already canvassed the opinion of senior players and management via Skype since returning from a family holiday to Australia late last week.

Central to his discussions with Cook will be whether the opener feels he can lead the team until the end of the next Ashes series in Australia next January.

If Cook cannot commit to the job for the next 12 months then he will step aside to allow Root the summer to bed into the captaincy before England depart for Australia in late October.

England have seven home Tests this summer, with the four against South Africa followed by three more against the West Indies.

That would give Root a decent lead-in to the Ashes tour. However, changing captains midway through the summer would allow him little time to get to grips with the demands of the job and potentially jeopardise England’s chances of success in Australia.

Root flew out to India on Wednesday following the birth of his first child, Alfred, last weekend. He is expected to play in England’s opening one-day international against India in Pune on Sunday.

If Root is named as Cook’s successor imminently, he will, at 26, become England’s youngest Test captain since Michael Atherton took on the job at the age of 25 in 1993.

He has little captaincy experience with Yorkshire, nor his county, but was declared “ready” for the England job by Cook following England’s innings defeat by India in Mumbai in December.

It's believed Cook is ready to step down as England captain (PA)

England conceded their highest-ever total when they slipped to another crushing innings defeat in the final Test that followed in Chennai.

And contrary to the current ECB ‘line’ that the discussions between Cook and Strauss on Friday are a routine debrief, the captain has admitted the talks will indeed decide his future.

Speaking after that defeat in Chennai, Cook said: “I’ve got to go away and do some thinking. This is not right time to make decisions as big as that. I need to go home first, enjoy Christmas as much as I can do and then come back in January and look to plan with Straussy and see what’s the right decision for English cricket.

“I’ve got to go away and decide whether I am the right man to take England forward.”

Strauss is likely to allow Cook, who still enjoys huge support in the England dressing-room, to make that decision himself.