Dravid to consider changes to India’s side for England semi-final

F.P. Report

PERTH; India coach Rahul Dravid admits he will consider making changes to his XI for the upcoming cut-throat semi-final against England at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Dravid’s chargers booked their place in the final four of this year’s tournament on a dramatic final day of the Super 12 stage on Sunday, with their comfortable 71-run triumph over Zimbabwe ensuring they finished on top of their group and progressed to a semi-final clash with England.

India will travel to Adelaide to play Jos Buttler’s side on Thursday and Dravid said he will choose an XI for that match that he believes will suit the conditions.

That could mean a first appearance at the tournament for experienced leggie Yuzvendra Chahal, with the Adelaide Oval pitch generally one that suits the slower bowlers.

Experienced wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik could also earn a recall to replace Rishabh Pant, with Dravid revealing he won’t make a call on his final XI until he has seen the pitch presented in Adelaide.

“I think we have a completely open mind about everyone in our 15,” Dravid said.

“We believe anybody who comes into the 15 will not potentially make us weaker, the kind of squad we’ve picked.

“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. 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.

“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.”