India and England are playing in the semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup, and some of the fans expected Yuvendra Chahal to play the game as the leg-spinners have been taking wickets throughout the tournament. Rishabh Pant has also been preferred over Dinesh Karthik.
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Indian captain Rohit Sharma confirmed at the toss that the Indian team have not made any changes in their playing eleven. He confirmed that the team had some discussions about the same, but they have decided to not make any changes. Rohit said that the dimensions of the stadium will play a part.
India had a bad start to the match where KL Rahul failed yet again. However, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were looking in decent touch, and the Indian team will want their senior batters to play a good knock.
Why Chahal is not playing today vs England
Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal is not playing the match against England. It is interesting that Chahal is the only player in India’s 15-member squad to not play a single match in the tournament so far. The leg-spinners like Shadab Khan, Rashid Khan, etc have done well in the tournament, but Chahal has not played a single game.
India have opted to go with R Ashwin over Yuzvendra Chahal as Ashwin allows the Indian team to have a good batting option at the number 8 position. However, Ashwin has not been able to take wickets for the team. Axar Patel has also been quite ineffective in terms of wickets taken.
Chahal has been decent this year, where he has scalped 21 T20I wickets in 19 matches at an economy of 7.60. Looking at the number of right-handers in the English team, he could have been a good pick.
Dinesh Karthik in T20 World Cup 2022 innings list
Dinesh Karthik was dropped from the last match as India wanted to try Rishabh Pant in the middle. Karthik has not been at his best in the World Cup so far. He has been able to score just 14 runs in 3 innings and has smashed just one boundary in the process.
| S No. | Opponent | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | S/R | NRR |
| 1 | Pakistan | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 | +1.195 |
| 2 | South Africa | 6 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 40.00 | +1.724 |
| 3 | Bangladesh | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 140.00 | -0.491 |
