Dravid drops huge hint on making changes in Indian playing XI for WC semi-final
Indian head coach Rahul Dravid has hinted that he is open to making changes to the playing XI of the Rohit Sharma-led side for the upcoming match against England at the T20 World Cup 2022. Registering a convincing win over Zimbabwe in their final Super 12 fixture at the T20 World Cup 2022 on Sunday, Rohit-led Team India has advanced to the semi-finals after securing the top spot in Group 2.
Speaking to media after India's win over Zimbabwe, head coach Dravid admitted that the Asian giants will pick their playing XI for the semi-finals as per the conditions. Dravid's latest remark suggests that spinner Yuzvendra Chahal might be in the fray of featuring in the Indian playing XI as the Adelaide Oval pitch usually assists slower bowlers.
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“I think we have a completely open mind about everyone in our 15. We believe anybody who comes into the 15 will not potentially make us weaker, the kind of squad we've picked. Anybody that we need to pick will actually not make us a weaker squad. Again, we'll have to go there and see. I watched some of the games (in Adelaide) today and I know the tracks were slow and they gripped and they turned a bit,” Dravid said after the match.
India had confirmed its berth for the semi-final stage of the T20 World Cup before taking on Zimbabwe at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). South Africa's embarrassing trounce at the hands of the Netherlands confirmed India's qualification to the knockout stage of the T20 World Cup. With India securing its berth for the semi-final stage ahead of the Super 12 match against Zimbabwe, the Dravid-coached side opted to replace Dinesh Karthik with Rishabh Pant in the Indian playing XI.
“We might be playing on a completely new strip in Adelaide, and the strip we played with against Bangladesh, to be honest, did not spin. It was, again, a different kind of wicket, and it was played at Adelaide, as well. I think I can't sit here now just after a game and predict what's going to happen there,” Dravid explained.
Spearheading the spin attack of the Rohit-led against Craig Ervine's men, veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bagged three wickets and leaked 22 runs in India's 71-run win over Zimbabwe at the MCG. India will meet England in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.
"We'll have a couple of days; we'll go and have a look at that wicket and see what we think it might do. Of course, if it's slow we'll play according to those situations. If we think it might play differently, then we'll have to put up a squad to match that," Dravid added.
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