Virat Kohli bailed out of the challenging England tour, claims former spinner
Former England spinner Monty Panesar feels star India batter Virat Kohli bailed out of the upcoming England tour. India are set to take on England in a five-match Test series beginning from June 20, which will also mark the start of World Test Championship Cycle 2025-27.Ahead of the all-important tour, Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket, leaving everyone surprised. Recently, Monty Panesar shared his thoughts on Kohli's retirement, saying that he expected the batting stalwart to play in England.advertisementThe former off-spinner claimed that the former India captain may have been given an ultimatum by the team management and hence he decided to bail out of the tour by calling time on his Test career.
'I think he was definitely going to play. I think England were expecting, everyone was expecting him to play. I'm surprised he's kind of like bailed out. But maybe the fact that outside off-stump, he's just thinking, well, you know, they may have had a word with him. They said, look, if you don't score well in the first couple of Test matches, don't expect to play all the five. So, he's probably thinking, well, I'll just call it a day and give the youngsters a go,' Panesar told Hindustan Times.Furthermore, Panesar said that India have a great chance to win if their middle order, particularly Karun Nair and Shubman Gill, perform well.advertisement'It would depend on how Karun Nair performs, he scored a double-hundred against the England Lions. He and Shubman Gill, that middle-order, how they bat. I think the batters who've played county cricket, if they are able to then transform that same form at the international level, then I think India have got a chance to win,' he added.The upcoming series will also be the first assignment of Shubman Gill as the captain of the Indian Test team, who has been handed over the responsibility following Rohit Sharma's retirement. The 25-year-old has a herculean task at hand to inspire the team full of young stars to help India win a series in England for the first time since 2007.
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