Skipper Jos Buttler has won the toss and opted to bat against Rohit Shrama led Indian team at the Adelaide Oval Cricket Ground in the second sem-final encounter of the ongoing T20 World Cup on Thursday. Today’s winner will face Pakistan in the final
After winning the toss, Jos Buttler confirmed that the English side will miss the services of two veterans, pacer Mark Wood and left-handed batter Dawid Malan missed out on the semifinal due to injuries, with experienced pace all-rounder Chris Jordan and right-handed batter Phil Salt coming into the playing eleven.
“There is going to be a great atmosphere here. Obviously the dimensions here are a little different, so we have to adapt quickly. Looks like a good wicket. Hope it stays well the whole game,” he added.
India will be looking to play a perfect game and register a clinical win over the English side to secure the final berth. India topped the group 2 pool and will look forward to play against arch rival Pakistan in the T20 WC final at the iconic MCG on Sunday.
India is going with the same squad which played against Zimbabwe in the last group 2 match.
Skipper Rohit said, “We’ve played some good cricket, another opportunity for us to play the same way we have all tournament. Important to hold the nerve and take the game till the end. We’ve played these guys a fair bit in recent years and know what strengths, weaknesses they have.”
“Important to exploit that. Important to stay calm and do what we want to do. It (injury) was a scare but I’m fine now. The kind of talent we have, it was a tough one (to pick the XI),” he added.
On the other side England is missing the service of their ace-pacer Mark Wood, due to a side-strain injury.
Mark Wood has bowled 30 plus deliveries at a clicking speed of 150 km, he is miles ahead in terms of crossing the 150 km speed barrier than any other bowler competing in the tournament.
India (Playing XI): KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh
England (Playing XI): Jos Buttler(w/c), Alex Hales, Philip Salt, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid