A relatively young Indian side, led by Shubman Gill, is set to play England in a five-match Test series starting June 20 in Leeds. But ahead of this important series, marking the start of the new World Test Championship cycle, the issue around Virat Kohli's retirement from Test cricket refuses to die down.

Kohli became the second senior Indian batter to announce retirement from the longest format of the game after former captain Rohit Sharma.Ahead of the England series, former England spinner Monty Panesar said he expected that Kohli would continue to play for India. But he said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selection committee, headed by Ajit Agarkar, must have informed Kohli that he would not be considered for the full England series, forcing him to announce his shock retirement.

Kohli's form has not been great over the last five years."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 said.Asked about the series between India and England, Panesar said that a lot would depend on how the returning Karun Nair, who hit a 204 in the first warm-up match against England Lions, performs for India."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. But if they just somehow freeze, it's the big stage, it's the crowd, it's playing for India, it's not playing for Surrey or some other county, and suddenly they're not playing the same level like it's for England Lions when there's only like a dog and, you know, one man and his dog," he said.