Ajit Agarkar picks his playing XI for third Test

As the Indian cricket team gears up to take on England in the third Test of the five-match series at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, the big question is whether they would go in with any changes and if they do, how many changes they would go in with.

Former Indian pacer Ajit Agarkar, while speaking to Cricinfo, felt that the Indian batting order should remain the same for the third Test despite the numerous failures they have faced in the first two Tests.

"It was a mistake leaving Pujara out in the first Test itself. But since Dhawan played, he should have played in the 2nd Test as well. Now that he's dropped and Vijay looks out of sorts, I'll still give him another go. Hopefully, Pujara gets a few more runs in this innings. I don't want to change the batting purely because the conditions have been difficult to bat in.

If the conditions are seam friendly, I wouldn't mind adding an extra batsman in place of a spinner and get a regular seamer in place of Hardik Pandya," he said.

He also felt that it's about time Rishabh Pant makes his debut for the Indian side. He went on to say that they went backwards by picking Dinesh Karthik in the side for the first two Tests.

The one surprise from Agarkar's playing XI was the exclusion of Jasprit Bumrah. The 24-year-old has recovered from his injury and is set to return to the Indian side, however, Agarkar was of the opinion that Umesh Yadav should play in his place.

The third Test between India and England will begin at 15:30 IST.

Ajit Agarkar's playing XI: Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravi Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami