Pant or Karthik, who has the upper hand heading into T20 World Cup semis against England?

Team India completed their Super 12 campaign with an impressive 71-run win against  Zimbabwe on November 6. By winning the final encounter, India topped Group 2 and will now face England in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022. As India prepares to face England at the Adelaide Oval on November 8, the question is whether Rishabh Pant will continue in the Playing XI or Dinesh Karthik will replace him for the semi-final encounter.

T20 World Cup: Will Pant beat Karthik for a place in the playing XI for the semis?

Rishabh Pant was expected to play the last two matches for India in the Super 12 stage, but the youngster blew away the opportunity with below par performance with the bat. Dinesh Karthik's form has not been impressive either. The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman has had poor returns in Australia scoring just 1, 6 and 7 in 4 matches which has now given a big selection headache to the coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma ahead of India vs England semi-final clash.

Ahead of crucial India vs England semi-final encounter, Team India coach Rahul Dravid, while speaking about the playing XI, said that he won't make a call on his final XI until he has seen the pitch presented in Adelaide. "I think we have a completely open mind about everyone in our 15. We believe anybody who comes into the 15 will not potentially make us weaker, the kind of squad we've picked.  Anybody that we need to pick will actually not make us a weaker squad," explained the head coach.

Speaking about the conditions in Adelaide, he said "Again, we'll have to go there and see. I watched some of the games (in Adelaide) today and I know the tracks were slow and they gripped and they turned a bit. We might be playing on a completely new strip in Adelaide, and the strip we played with against Bangladesh, to be honest, did not spin. It was, again, a different kind of wicket, and it was played at Adelaide, as well. We'll have a couple of days; we'll go and have a look at that wicket and see what we think it might do. Of course, if it's slow we'll play according to those situations. If we think it might play differently, then we'll have to put up a squad to match that."

Meanwhile, former India cricketer Robin Uthappa has backed Pant to be included in the semi-final. The ex-CSK player, while speaking to ESPNcricinfo's T20 Time: Out, said, "Yeah absolutely [Pant playing as a floater]. Especially in Adelaide, given the size of the square boundaries which are as small as they can be in Australia, and with Adil Rashid there, I think Rishabh Pant would be the best option to take him down."

T20 World Cup 2022: Ravi Shastri makes his choice between Pant and Karthik

Former India coach Ravi Shastri has backed Rishabh Pant to make it through to the playing XI for the India vs England T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final. Shastri preferred Pant over Karthik not due to his Adelaide record but because of the X-factor angle.

Speaking to Star Sports, Shastri said, "He [Rishabh Pant] has done well against England. He recently won a match on his own against England, a one-day game. I would go with Pant, not just because he played here, but because of the X-factor angle, he can bring to the semi-final."

He added, "You are playing in Adelaide, short boundaries square, another reason why a left-hander should be there to disrupt the England attack. If you have too many right-handers, there is a sense of sameness to it. England have a nice attack, a varied attack of left-handers and right-handers. You need a left-hander in your team, who can be dangerous and win you a game in the back overs even if you have lost 3 or 4 wickets at the top."