England batter Dawid Malan could miss the T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal versus India – to be played at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday – after having sustained a groin injury.
The 35-year-old picked up the injury while fielding during England’s last Super 12s clash – against Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday – and couldn’t return to bat during the chase. He is unlikely to recover in time ahead of the semifinal, as confirmed by team vice-captain Moeen Ali, who revealed the status.
“He is a big player and has been for a number of years. He has been one of our best players. I don’t know but it [Malan’s injury] doesn’t look great.”
Moeen said.
Malan, the sixth-ranked batter in the ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings currently, has had a fairly underwhelming tournament thus far, having registered scores of 18(30), 35 (37) and 3*(1), at a combined strike-rate of 82.35. Phil Salt, the only specialist batter outside of England’s starting XI, is the frontrunner to replace Malan should the need arise, unless England go for an all-round option in David Willey or Chris Jordan.
England struggled with the bat in a low-scoring win against Afghanistan in their first game of the competition before being beaten by Ireland by five runs (DLS) in a rain-hit game in Melbourne. A washout at the same venue against arch-rivals and defending champions Australia put them in a must-win situation for the remainder of the matches while also having to rely on other results to go their way.
They registered resounding wins against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, the latter coming in a tense last-over finish, and despite being levelled with Australia with seven points each, progressed through on virtue of a superior net run-rate.
Moeen felt that England are the underdogs against India, the top-ranked T20I side currently, given their recent form. India topped Group 2 after wins over Pakistan, Netherlands, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, with the lone defeat coming to South Africa in a low-scoring last-over finish in Perth.
“England are the underdogs because I think India have been playing fantastically well over the last few years. Even if you look at this competition, I think they have been playing really well, generally. I think we have been a little behind, but hopefully, we can pull it off.
It doesn’t get bigger and better than playing India anywhere in the world because of the crowds and they are such a big side and force in cricket. I am very excited and looking forward to it,”
Ali added.
India, the inaugural T20 World Cup winners in 2007, have a 12-10 record against 2010 champions England in T20Is to date, and have won four of the last five head-to-head matches, which includes an away series win earlier this year.
The two teams have met thrice in the T20 World Cup, with India having won two of them. This will be their first head-to-head clash in a T20 World Cup knockout stage.
