Prior to the third Test of ongoing five-match Test series between the hosts England and the visitors India at Trent Bridge (Nottingham), starting from this Saturday (August 18), Indian skipper Virat Kohli opens up about his fitness and team situation along with the combination.

After losing the first two Tests at Edgbaston (Birmingham) and Lord’s (London) respectively, the Trent Bridge game is going to be the most important game for India in this series.

In the first two Tests, Indian batsmen widely failed in front of the English bowlers. Observing the present facts, when Kohli was asked if they will go with an extra batsman for the Trent Bridge Test, he claimed that it will depend on the surface.

Kohli said in the press conference, “Depends on the surface. If it has got enough assistance for the bowler then the extra batter might come into play. If it is going to be even, then picking 20 wickets is the priority. It’s about one discipline taking responsibility of their job. Both possibilities are there depending on the pitch.”

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Talking about the squad, Kohli also calmed that the right-arm pacer Jasprit Bumrah is getting fit for the upcoming Test and they are very excited on his return.

Kohli spoke about Bumrah’s return, “Very excited with Jasprit getting fit again. He is very consistent in hitting the areas that are required at the Test level. He’s shown that in South Africa already. He is one guy who is aggressive and makes the batsman feel uncomfortable in the middle. That has been his biggest strength and he relishes the challenge whenever given the opportunity. We are very excited that he is back. It is great to have someone like that on the park.”

While Kohli is the only in-form batsman in this tour as he is currently the most runs scorer in the Test series (240 runs in four innings with 60.00 averages), his back injury has put Indian fans in worry. However, he has ensured that he is absolutely fine as he knows to handle it.

Kohli said on his fitness, “Feeling absolutely fine. It has been an issue that has been coming on and off, I got it in 2011 the first time. It happens with the work load. Back is such a thing, you don’t know when it will go off. Bit of strengthening, ample rest, proper rehab gets me back into shape. I’ve had it couple of times before so its not a new development and I knew how to handle it.”

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Despite trailing the series by 2-0, the Indian skipper is very positive on his team as he is confident about the players’ improvements in the rest of Test series.

When Kohli was asked that what he has told the players after losing the first two Tests, he replied, “Only thing we have spoken about is to focus on what the team requires. When your back is against the wall, you can’t afford to think of anything else. If you look at it from another point of view it is actually a good situation to be in because you literally have no room for thinking about anything apart from what the team requires. The only option we have is to win this game and nothing else and you need to show that in your body language, in your intent, the way you go about things. It is all about you feeling positive first.”

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Talking about the English condition, the Indian captain said that they need to perform as a team to get out of this tough situation.

Kohli said about the condition, “This is something that we have discussed a lot that, here in England, you are not set even if you are batting on 100. As a batsman you have to accept that a good ball can come at any point and you cannot walk into the middle feeling scared. You have to accept it and move forward. We are thinking that we have to make a team total. Whether that means 10 people make 30 runs or one person makes 200, it doesn’t matter. We have to forget what happened before this and decide that we will start contributing from this match. Thinking like that helps relieve a lot of pressure and also helps you respect the conditions and stay in the present.”