India will be facing England in the second semi-final game of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 at Adelaide Oval on Thursday. The men in blue played 5 games in the Super 12 stage and lost just one game against South Africa. They ended the Super 12 stage at the top position on the Group 1 points table. On the other hand, England played 5 games, won 3, and lost 1 while the remaining ones were abandoned due to rain.
England ended their Super 12 journey at the second spot on the Group 2 points table, with 7 points to their tally. The sun has been out and about in Adelaide over the last few days and while the city witnessed a few spells of rain on the eve of the semifinal, the game day itself is forecast to be all clear.
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Another mouth-watering encounter seems to be on the cards as these two heavyweights will be up against each other on Thursday. In the 22 meetings between the two sides, India is leading the charts 12-10 against the Lions in the head-to-head battles. India is ahead in the last 5 meetings with a 4-1 margin.
India
Rohit Sharma suffered a blow on his right forearm while batting in the nets two days out from the game but batted without discomfort thereafter. He confirmed it was a minor bruising and that he is fit for the game. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has an outstanding record against Jos Buttler. India has one selection call to make for the semifinal and that is the identity of their keeper-bat. The team management is likely to favor the southpaw to quell the Adil Rashid challenge.
Probable XI: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant/Dinesh Karthik (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
England
England is sweating over the fitness of both Dawid Malan (groin) and Mark Wood (stiffness). Buttler said the team was willing to give the pair until the morning of the game to get fit. Sam Curran has a great head-to-head against Hardik Pandya, who he is likely to come up against in the death overs. India has been the best batting team in the slog overs, scoring at 11.60 in this phase in comparison to the Super 12 average of 8.66.
Probable XI: Alex Hales, Jos Buttler (c & wk), Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Phil Salt, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood/David Willey
Fantasy XI Suggestion 1:
Jos Buttler, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Alex Hales, Lokesh Rahul, Ben Stokes (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Sam Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin, Chris Woakes, Arshdeep Singh
Fantasy XI Suggestion 2:
Jos Buttler (vc), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, Hardik Pandya, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh
