Former England spinner Monty Panesar has made a big statement on Team India ahead of the World Test Championship final. The final will be played in Southampton between June 18-22 with the ICC announcing the playing conditions on Friday morning. The final will have a reserve day and the teams will be declared joint winners in case of a tie or a draw.

Meanwhile, Monty Panesar's comments on Team India come just a day after Ravi Shastri's birthday. The Indian head coach celebrated his 59th birthday on Thursday. many Indian players wished him on his birthday including skipper Virat Kohli. Meanwhile, Panesar's comments concern both Kohli and Shastri.

Speaking to India Today, Monty Panesar said that the current Indian team is Shastri's team and he has more influence and impact on the team than skipper Kohli. If one analyses the performance of India in the past few months, you can see that it is more of Ravi Shastri's team than Virat Kohli's. "It is Ravi Shastri who has built a self-belief in this Indian cricket team. What they achieved in Australia after the infamous '36' in Adelaide is quite a miracle. They won the series even though their charismatic captain Virat Kohli didn't play the rest of the series, and India kept losing players to injury" said Panesar to India Today.

Virat Kohli had a huge role in Ravi Shastri's appointment as the head coach of the current Indian team. But Panesar believes that Shatri had a bigger role to play in egging the boys to a Test series win in Australia. Under Kohli, India defeated England, South Africa, West Indies, and Bangladesh to help the team reach the WTC final. India won 2-1 under AjinkyaRahane's captaincy after Kohli lost the first Test and came back to India for his parental leave.