ENG vs IND, 3rd Test: It's now or never for Virat Kohli & Co.

India to take on England in the third Test on August 18 at Trent Bridge at Nottingham

The time has come for Virat Kohli and his men to come out of their shells and start performing against the English pace attack. On Saturday, they will be facing the home team for yet another time in the series at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. However, if the Indians fail like their previous two encounters, the story will once again on a sorry note.

To void this brutal another series loss, the Indian team management's major responsibility on Saturday morning would be to find a perfect team combination as players are going through fitness and out of form issues.

Expected alterations

The major change in the side which is being speculated is the debut of young stumper Rishabh Pant. He would replace Dinesh Karthik who not only failed miserably so far in the tour with the bat but also disappointed with his performance behind the wickets.

On the other hand, the skipper has recovered from his back pain and is fit to play. Also, if opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan returns on Saturday, either Lokesh Rahul or Murali Vijay will be axed from the playing eleven.

Back to one-spinner theory:

Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah has fully recovered from his finger injury and is likely to return in Nottingham. If it happens, then Kuldeep Yadav will definitely be benched and Kohli will yet again enter the field with 4 pacers and 1 spinner.

About the weather

And with the forecast being a cloudy first four days, it seems difficult for Kuldeep to make a cut because of the seam-friendly condition.

The sorted hosts

On Friday evening, England announced their playing XI for the next face-off. Surprisingly, Sam Curran has been dropped as Ben Stokes, who has walked free from the court, comes in.

"It was one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make as captain. It's about us as a squad delivering over five games and on this occasion, Sam is unfortunate to miss out," Root was quoted as saying by England Cricket Board (ECB).

"Ben is desperate to get back playing cricket. He's desperate to get out there, put in performances and concentrate on his cricket now. He feels ready to play," he added.

Significantly Stokes, who returned with figures of 6/113 at Edgbaston Test, had missed the second Test owing to a court case. In his place, Chris Woakes played, scoring a 137 not out and picking four wickets. Based on these performances, Woakes has been given another opportunity.

Here are the predicted XIs

India: Shikhar Dhawan/Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma.

England: Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Joe Root (c), Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow (w), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad, James Anderson