England duo out as India make big keeper call

England have been forced to make two changes for the World Cup semi-final against India, with injured duo Dawid Malan and Mark Wood replaced by Phil Salt and Chris Jordan as their skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to bowl against India.

Malan sustained a groin injury during England's final Super 12s game against Sri Lanka when he was forced from the field, and appeared to be struggling to break out of a jog when undergoing fitness drills at Adelaide Oval yesterday.

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India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh

England XI: Jos Buttler (c, wk), Alex Hales, Phil Salt, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid

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Wood was said to be suffering from "general stiffness" though it was suspected the problem was more specifically an upper leg issue and although he moved with greater freedom in yesterday's fitness tests he bowled just 12 deliveries at below top pace in the practice nets.

Wood had loomed as a potential trump card for England, given he is the only bowler in the tournament thus far to regularly clock bowling speeds in excess of 150kph.

Image Id: 3C27917781614AAC9CECC53403452CD5 Image Caption: Ben Stokes helps Dawid Malan after he strained his groin in the field against Sri Lanka // Getty

Salt, whose most recent T20I appearance came against Pakistan at Lahore last month, is no stranger to batting at Adelaide Oval, having spent two seasons with Adelaide Strikers in the KFC BBL during which time he scored more half-centuries (six) than any of his top-order teammates.

Jordan also boasts experience at Adelaide in a Strikers jersey, and is considered a 'death bowling' specialist as well as one of the white-ball game's most gifted fielders.

India skipper Rohit Sharma indicated prior to this evening's coin toss that both keepers – Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik – were in the mix for selection with Pant's point of difference as a left-handed batter in the middle-order a reason why he was preferred for the final Super 12 match against Zimbabwe.

Rohit said India had then opted to stick with the same starting XI from that Zimbabwe game to "keep the dynamism of the team".

Image Id: 08C9EE4DF6834760860EFE8A21F1A32F Image Caption: Karthik returned just 14 runs from three innings this T20 World Cup // Getty

With England quicks Sam Curran and Wood have been their team's leading wicket-takers in this tournament, leg spinner Adil Rashid boats one of their tidiest economy rates having conceded just 105 runs from his 16 overs to date, at an economy rate of 6.56.

With a surfeit of right-handed batters in their top six, India were weighing up the option of a left-hander who could potentially capitalise on having the ball spinning back into him at a ground that is renowned for having shorter boundaries square of the wicket.

Rohit also dismissed the relevance of India's 2-1 series win in England earlier this year, the most recent occasion in which the two teams have met in the 20-over format.

"We need to think about this game with a fresh mind," Rohit said yesterday.

"We can't go into the game thinking we've beaten this guy and this team and it can happen again, just like that.

"We do understand we need to play well to win the game because these guys are quite dangerous, they've played some really good cricket in the tournament

Image Id: 2AE44AB8E15845F48950E97A99AC2E00 Image Caption: Sharma was struck on the wrist in the Adelaide nets on Tuesday but was "completely fine" to play // Getty

In his pre-match media conferences held yesterday, Buttler was asked if he held concerns about the semi-final being scheduled on an Adelaide Oval pitch that had already been used earlier in the tournament, as was the case in last night's semi-final at the SCG.

The England captain claimed he had been given assurances by Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough the pitch was unaffected by earlier traffic and Buttler also noted that par scores in previous T20 internationals at the ground was around 165.

"But I'm not really interested in a par score, I'm interested in a winning score," he said.

"Having talked to the groundsman, he seems really confident he's had a lot of time to get some really good work into the wicket.

"He seems very comfortable it's going to be a good surface, a consistent surface.

"At the moment, I have no worries about the pitch."

Buttler also made it clear his team was quite happy to spoil the promoters' party that would surely arise from a World Cup final between neighbours and arch-rivals India and Pakistan at the MCG on Sunday.

England played that role in the 1992 ODI World Cup staged in Australia when, with Pakistan having qualified for the final a day earlier by defeating New Zealand in a semi-final, they denied South Africa a fairytale finish in their first global tournament back from political isolation.

In that game, the Proteas were on track to challenge England's total until a rain delay in Sydney and accompanying playing time deadlines saw them resume with the absurd equation of requiring 21 runs from a single delivery when play resumed.

"We certainly don't want to see an India-Pakistan final," Buttler said yesterday, before Pakistan qualified for Sunday's decider.

"We'll be doing all we can to make sure that doesn't happen.

"We've played in two must-win games just before this (against NZ and Sri Lanka), so we're used to that feeling of being in knockout cricket already.

"We feel like we've gained some good confidence from those matches."

Men's T20 World Cup 2022

Semi-final 1: Pakistan beat New Zealand by seven wickets

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