India vs England T20 World Cup: 3 Changes India can make for IND vs ENG semi-final

India vs England: India will take on England in the 2nd Semi-Final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. India topped Group 2 with 8 points from 5 matches and will be keen to book a place in the finals. But before going into the semi-final against England, India would be hoping to fix a few glaring weaknesses and the form of certain players that were exposed in the last few matches.

Coach Dravid and Captain Rohit Sharma will be keen to address those issues before going to the next match. As implied by Rohit before the World Cup, this Indian team is quite flexible in their approach and may not stick to just one playing XI or plan for every match. Keeping this in mind, let’s see the 3 possible changes that India can make for their next match against England.

1. Dinesh Karthik to replace Rishabh Pant

In the match against Zimbabwe India decided to drop their designated finisher Dinesh Karthik and went with Rishabh Pant as the wicket-keeper. But that move didn’t yield much rewards as he was dismissed cheaply. With Hardik Pandya struggling for form, and Rishabh not showing much promise either, India is most likely to go back to the seasoned pro-Dinesh Karthik and expect him to play the role of a finisher that he has done to perfection for the last few months.

2.  Deepak Hooda to replace Axar Patel

Axar Patel so far has had very little role to play in the matches that India played in this world cup. On the bowling front, he has just bowled 2-3 overs per match and hasn’t been able to take wickets at regular intervals like how he used to do in spinning tracks in India. In the last match, he leaked 40 runs in just 3 overs. On the batting front also, his contribution is close to nil so far. He hasn’t been able to hang in there and has lost his wicket cheaply. With Hardik bowling 4 overs, Deepak Hooda could replace Axar in the eleven to provide some batting support in a batting-friendly Adelaide Oval.

3. Ashwin to play the role of a floater

India’s move to user Axar Patel as a floater has failed big time. Whereas Ravichandran Ashwin has shown some great promise with the bat in whatever little opportunities he has got so far in this world cup. So India could use his batting form to great advantage and can use him as a floater instead of Axar like how Rajasthan Royals did in this IPL.