T20 World Cup 2024

Rahul Dravid hints at making changes in playing XI ahead of semifinal in 20-20 World Cup 2022

The Indian team have qualified for the semi-finals of the 20-20 World Cup 2022 and are set to play England in the important clash on November 10, Thursday. Wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has warmed the bench in India’s fixtures so far in the tournament as Ravichandran Ashwin was picked over him. Ahead of the semi-final, Indian head coach Rahul Dravid has hinted at making changes in the playing XI for the mega clash.

Speaking to the media after India’s win over Zimbabwe, head coach Dravid admitted that the ‘Men-in-blue’ will pick their team for the semi-finals keeping in mind the conditions at the Adelaide Oval. Dravid’s latest remark suggests that spinner Yuzvendra Chahal might get included in the Indian playing XI as the Adelaide Oval pitch usually assists slower bowlers.

“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.

We’ll play according to the situation: Rahul Dravid

India had already the semi-final of the 20-20 World Cup before taking on Zimbabwe at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). South Africa’s embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Netherlands confirmed India’s qualification to the knockout stages of the 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.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has managed to pick six wickets so far in the tournament at an average of 21.33 and an economy of 7.52. He picked up three wickets for 22 runs against Zimbabwe on Sunday.

“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.