Should England play an extra bowler in T20 World Cup semi-final? Will India handle the pressure? | Cricket News

Should England bring in an extra bowler for their T20 World Cup semi-final at Adelaide Oval? And just how strong are their opponents India?

Those questions were answered by Sky Sports Cricket’s Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton ahead of Thursday’s crunch clash, which you can watch from 7am on Sky Sports ahead of an 8am start.

England squeezed past Sri Lanka on Saturday to secure a spot in the knockout stages and now face an India side featuring the top two run-scorers in the Super 12s in Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav.

With India having such a talented batting line-up – to Kohli and Suryakumar, you can add skipper Rohit Sharma, opening partner KL Rahul and, if selected, Rishabh Pant – and Adelaide Oval having short square boundaries, Hussain and Atherton think England may consider bringing in seamer Chris Jordan for his first appearance of the tournament.

The likelihood is that England will be forced into at least one change with batter Dawid Malan (groin) appearing to face an uphill battle in his bid to be fit and Phil Salt primed to slot in at No 3.

Salt likely to play – but what about Jordan?

Hussain told Sky Sports: “I wouldn’t want to make too many changes for a massive game like this. Salt played really well in the T20 series in Pakistan ahead of the World Cup so I would go for him.

“He would be batting slightly out of position at No 3 as he likes to open, but in the top three in the powerplay there is not that much difference.

“I know [former England captain] Eoin Morgan would maybe make one more change and bring Jordan in. That could be a straight swap for Malan or it could be for someone like Harry Brook who has had a quiet tournament with the bat.

“That’s nothing against Brook but on this ground you might just want that extra bowling option, especially to bowl full and straight at the death. I would make just the one change but England might want the extra bowling option because of India’s batting.”

Atherton added: “I’d be thinking about Jordan because from watching New Zealand vs Ireland and India vs Bangladesh in Adelaide, sixes at the end of the innings where when anyone went into the pitch. It was easy. Full and straight was less easy to hit.

“At most of the grounds in Australia, you want to be into the pitch and looking to get batters hitting square, here you want them to hit down the ground so you want to be up in the blockhole.

“Jordan does that as well as anybody, but David Willey also offers an option and gives you a bit of batting, so there are alternatives. I’d think about having an extra bowling option.”

Will pressure get to India in Adelaide?

Suryakumar is the leading run-scorer in T20 international cricket in 2022, with his 1,026 in 28 innings this calendar year including a century against England at Trent Bridge in July and nine fifties.

Three of those half-centuries have come in this tournament, including one against Zimbabwe on Sunday when he struck an unbeaten 61 from 25 balls and displayed his full array of shots, particularly over the leg-side.

Kohli, meanwhile, has notched three fifties in four innings, including a masterful unbeaten 82 as India beat Pakistan off the last ball in a Melbourne thriller this month.

India won that pressure match – but have lost in the semi-finals of the last two 50-over World Cups and were also eliminated at the same stage of the 2016 T20 World Cup on home turf before being dumped out in the opening round of last year’s tournament in the UAE.

Hussain said: “India have fallen at this stage in recent ICC events, maybe because of the pressure of a knockout game. You go from hero to zero very quickly as an Indian cricketer.

“England captain [Jos Buttler] was speaking on a podcast about the 2019 50-over World Cup final [when England beat New Zealand].

“At one stage he wanted to scoop even though fine leg and third man were back. He thought, ‘should I in a World Cup final? Yes, that’s my shot’.

“That’s the challenge for India, to play that attacking style. Suryakumar has this fearless attitude about him. Can he and will he play exactly the same way in a knockout game? I think he will.

‘India can definitely be beaten’

“India might also get a little bit stronger as there are rumours Pant might play [instead of Dinesh Karthik]. Rishabh’s record against England is phenomenal, he plays Adil Rashid very well and is also very good square of the wicket. He would be a threat.

“India do have a formidable line-up but only two are in real form at the minute in Kohli and Suryakumar. India lost to South Africa and only just got over the line against Pakistan, so they definitely can be beaten.

“If Kohli and Suryakumar are smashing it everywhere, suddenly you realise the occasion and England will be playing against the crowd, so how England handle that will be vital.

“What will help them is that they have a number of players who have played in the IPL so will know that atmosphere.”

England’s Super 12 campaign started with a stuttering win over Afghanistan before a meek defeat to Ireland, a washout against hosts Australia, a clinical victory over New Zealand and then that nervy triumph against Sri Lanka as they slumped from 75-0 to 129-6 before reaching their target of 142 with two balls to spare.

Atherton added: “I spoke to Jos and he said the feeling after Sri Lanka was not one of elation, but real disappointment at the level of performance as they feel they should have won that game two or three down with three or four overs to spare at a bit of a canter.

“I don’t think they feel they have played at their best yet but if you look at last year’s tournament, you’d say exactly that about Australia [who were thrashed by England in the group stage before going on to win the trophy].

“You almost forget the first stage now – what’s happened has happened and I’m not sure it has a great deal of relevance to what’s coming up.”

Watch England’s T20 World Cup semi-final against India live on Sky Sports Cricket on Thursday. An hour-long build-up begins at 7am ahead of an 8am start at Adelaide Oval.