Former England bowler Bob Willis opposes the association of Virat Kohli in his debut county stint

Indian captain Virat Kohli recently signed up with the English county team Surrey to improve his game greatly in the English conditions and also to settle down nicely in the overseas environment before his team would be touring England for a long tour, as revealed by Alec Stewart, who is Surrey’s director of cricket.

Kohli who is currently the best batsman in the current Indian batting line-up struggled a lot in his previous England tour, where he had mustered a meager 134 runs in five Tests at a dismal average of 13.40. But the former England fast bowler Bob Willis has raised questions on the involvement of foreign players like Kohli and many others in county cricket.

The English cricketers should gain benefits from the County cricket: Willis

Willis admitted that because of the more participation of overseas players in the English county season, the local English talented cricketers are not receiving their desired benefits to improve their skills and display their abilities at this stage. The former English cricketer mentioned that it is very important that more qualified local England players should be playing in the County Championship, in order to improve the stature of senior England Test team.

“I can’t stand overseas players in county cricket. It doesn’t benefit the players stranded in the second XI year on year and the youngsters. The only way to improve our Test team is to have as many England-qualified players playing in the County Championship as possible,” said Willis as quoted by the TOI.

They should allow Kohli to suffer hard in the English conditions

Willis also went on to oppose the idea of allowing Kohli to represent Surrey in the upcoming summer season for the betterment and improvisation in his game in accordance with the difficult English conditions. The former cricketer revealed that if more players like Kohli are allowed to feature in the County sides, their home England team will certainly be losing more number of games at home in the coming years.  He also noted that the Indian captain should be made to struggle hard for runs in England tour like he did in his last outing in 2014.

“Instead, they’re going to pay Kohli, presumably, five figures a match so he can hone his skills in English conditions before a Test series. It’s a nonsense. He should be made to suffer in England as he has done before. We don’t want England starting to lose Test matches at home because we’re accommodating all of these visiting players,” further added the former England, fast bowler.