Virat Kohli will turn up for either Surrey or Essex to prepare for India's 5-Test series in England. (Photo Reuters)

Former England pacer Bob Willis was left furious after news emerged India skipper Virat Kohli will either play for Surrey or Essex to prepare for the five-Test series against England.

Kohli will most likely miss India's one-off Test against Afghanistan as he is scheduled to leave for England immediately after the Indian Premier League.

While it is yet to be ascertained which county Kohli will represent, it could be Surrey in all likelihood.

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"Virat will be playing for a division one county side for sure. I wouldn't like to add anything more to it. There were talks with Surrey and Essex," a senior BCCI official had told PTI .

It is learnt that the Indian captain's sole focus is on the five Test series against England and he is ready to miss the one off Test against Afghanistan starting June 14 as he will be busy with his county stint.

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Kohli had a disastrous tour of England in 2014 and failed to get a half-century in any of the five Tests. India lost the series 3-1.

Willis said the English counties should not have allowed Kohli to warm up ahead of another high-profile series.

"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," he said. "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 nonsense."

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"He should be made to suffer and average 30 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," Willis said.

Kohli scored 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0, 7, 6 and 20 in the five-Test series in England in 2014. However, he has since been in red-hot form.

On the tour of Australia a few months after that nightmarish sequence of scores in England, Kohli hammered four hundreds in four Tests.

When England toured India in 2016, Kohli smashed 655 runs from five Tests as the hosts won the series 4-0.

Kohli is now the only captain to hit six double hundreds and is the only batsman with an average over 50 across all three formats.