India, England leave options open for Cup semi

Both India and England have indicated they will wait until tomorrow's coin toss before finalising their respective starting line-ups for the T20 World Cup semi-final at Adelaide Oval.

England are sweating on the fitness of top-order batter Dawid Malan (groin) and fast bowler Mark Wood (general stiffness), while India will be tossing up whether to go with Dinesh Karthik or Rishabh Pant as keeper-batter.

India skipper Rohit Sharma sent a brief scare through their camp when he was struck above the right wrist when batting in the Adelaide Oval nets yesterday, but he claimed today that apart from slight bruising he was "absolutely fine to play".

Image Id: 2AE44AB8E15845F48950E97A99AC2E00 Image Caption: Sharma was struck on the hand in the Adelaide nets on Tuesday // Getty

Pant replaced Karthik in India's starting XI for their final Super 12s game against Zimbabwe in Melbourne last Sunday, partly to ensure he had been granted game time if required at the tournament's pointy end but also to provide a left-handed option to attack spin in the middle overs.

Karthik played in India's opening four matches of the tournaments, and Rohit claimed he was unable to foreshadow who would get the nod tomorrow "but both of the keepers will be in play".

Malan and Wood undertook running drills prior to England's final pre-game training session today, with Wood showing little discomfort sprinting before sending down 12 deliveries at below full pace in the practice nets.

Malan, however, struggled to generate any speed in several sprint attempts and spent much of the session walking slow laps around the ground.

If he’s ruled out of tomorrow's semi-final, he's almost certain to be replaced by auxiliary batter Phil Salt while all-rounder Chris Jordan looms as the likely substitute for Wood should he fail to make muster.

"We'll see how they pull up, we'll try to give them as long as possible," England skipper Jos Buttler said of the injured duo today.

"Obviously Dawid left the field the other day with a small niggle, and Woody's had a bit of stiffness but we trust the medical team and we trust those two guys as well.

"We'll give them as long as possible."

Salt has yet to play in the current World Cup with England sticking to the same starting XI in all of their Super 12 fixtures, but Buttler was confident his Lancashire teammate would be ready to go should he be called up for the biggest match of his 11-game T20I career to date.

Image Id: 4CD9ED4D789A45119E4C4CDDDDEBA70C Image Caption: England players at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday // Getty

"He has a fantastic mindset, especially for the T20 format," Buttler said.

"He doesn't fear anyone, he's certainly someone who wants to get on the front foot and take the game on.

"He embodies quite a lot of what we speak about as a team and how we ask guys to play."

Salt is also one of a number of players in the England squad who can provide key insights into the vagaries of playing T20 cricket at Adelaide Oval, the only mainland Test venue where Buttler's team have not played during this tournament.

Salt played 30 games for Adelaide Strikers in the KFC BBL between 2019 and 2021, and joins leg-spinner Adil Rashid, opener Alex Hales and Jordan as alumni of the local team in recent years.

Buttler and England Test captain Ben Stokes have both spoken about the different strategies and tactics required at Adelaide where – unlike grounds such as Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne – the square boundaries are significantly shorter than those down the ground.

Rohit also noted the change in dimensions required a shift in mindset for batters and bowlers, but added India were fortunate to have experienced the venue earlier in the tournament when they snuck home in a rain-affected finish against Bangladesh.

"Guys who have not been here before, for them it's a huge challenge to adjust to that (boundary) length and the shot-making as well," Rohit said today.

"Adelaide is one ground where you have to understand what sort of tactics you want to use.

"We've been playing on the grounds that have longer side boundaries, so you could bowl your slower balls and bouncers into the pitch and the batsmen needed to adjust to that as well.

"But when we came to Adelaide it's a completely different scenario, and having played a game here we do understand what we have to come up with when it comes to planning."

Rohit revealed that India's explosive top-order batter Suryakumar Yadav was one player who expressed a strong preference for playing on the bigger grounds, simply because he believes it offers him more shot-making options.

"He hates playing on the small grounds, as he told me once he doesn't like the smaller boundaries because he can't see the gaps," Rohit said of the star batter who is best known simply as SKY.

"He likes to see the gaps and that's where his strength is.

"He's the sort of guy who just doesn't carry any baggage with him.

"Not his suitcases, I mean he's got a lot of suitcases honestly speaking – he loves his shopping.

"But when it comes to carrying that extra pressure, I don't think he has that in him and you can see that when he plays.

"He likes to bat in a similar fashion whether we're 10-2 or 100-2."

Buttler, who claimed he'd spoken with Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough and been reassured the pitch for tomorrow night's semi-final would be a "good, consistent surface" despite being used for matches earlier in the tournament, knows only too well the damage Yadav can inflict.

The England captain was behind the stumps at Trent Bridge in July this year when the 31-year-old went to the wicket with India reeling at 3-31 chasing 216, and then clubbed a remarkable 117 from 55 balls (with 14 boundaries and six sixes) to carry his team within 18 runs of an audacious win.

"He's been great to watch," Buttler said of the World Cup's second-highest runs scorer, behind India teammate Virat Kohli.

"He's been the batter of the tournament so far, in terms of the way you want to watch someone go about it.

"I think his biggest strength looks to be the freedom he plays with.

"He's obviously got all the shots but he allows himself to play all the shots as well.

"He's got a very free mindset from what I can see, but as with any batsman in the world it takes one chance to create a wicket so we desperately need to find a way to do that."

Men's T20 World Cup 2022

Semi-final 1: Wednesday, New Zealand v Pakistan, SCG, 7pm AEDT

Semi-final 2: Thursday, India v England, Adelaide Oval, 7pm AEDT

Final: Sunday November 13, MCG, 7pm AEDT

Click here for all 2022 T20 World Cup results