Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that Virat Kohli opting out of the entire Test series between India and England means the fans won’t get a chance to see a final battle between him and James Anderson. However, the selectors named the Indian squad for the final three Tests against England on Saturday, February 10. Kohli, who missed the first two Test matches due to personal reasons, has opted out of the rest three games of the five-match series as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “Forget about two matches, Virat Kohli isn’t available for the entire series. No one knows the reason, so you and I are not going to speculate. We won’t get to see the one final battle we could have seen between Jimmy Anderson and Virat Kohli. It’s absolutely fine.”

I am sure there are pressing reasons, or else Kohli hasn’t missed an entire series like this in his entire career. I remember him missing the Australia series, where he played the first match, the pink-ball Test match where India were all out for 36 and then he wasn’t available for the entire series,” Chopra stated.

“He went home on paternity leave. Before or after that, he has never taken such a long leave, and especially in Test cricket. Virat Kohli is the poster boy of cricket, all three formats, but Test cricket is closest to his heart. One thing was definitely there, Jimmy Anderson would have been in front of him, one final time maybe, but it’s also true that the No. 4 position at which Kohli comes to bat and the conditions that are there, it wasn’t really a fair contest,” he concluded.