India to Delay Naming Final XI Against Windies

Johannesburg: With his side's Champions Trophy semi-final hopes hanging by a slender thread, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Tuesday said he would name his squad for Wednesday's match against West Indies depending on how the match between Pakistan and Australia progresses.

If Pakistan beat Australia at Centurion by a big margin, India will need to defeat West Indies by a huge margin to make it to the semi-finals in their last Group A match, which will start five hours later here.

Dhoni said he would keenly follow the Pakistan-Australia game and would decide on his playing eleven only after he has seen how the day's game is heading.

"We would delay our team selection. It depends on how the match is progressing. If we need to strengthen our batting we would do so. If we need the bowling to get stronger, we would do that," Dhoni said at a press conference here.

A lot of calculation would be on tomorrow and Dhoni expected not only his support staff, but even seniors and others to chip in with their suggestions.

"Not only the coach and the support staff, even the seniors would be needed to chip in with their advice.

"Unfortunately, not everything is in your hand. Lot of things need to happen: Pakistan to win, we to beat West Indies and net run-rate," he said.

Dhoni is hoping that the Indian fans would be cheering for Pakistan to win against Australia.

"All of India wants its team to do well. Knowing that Pakistan's win (against Australia) earlier in the day is so important, they all would be cheering for Pakistan," he said.

It didn't concern Dhoni that Pakistan, the arch-rivals, could actually be attempting to lose by giving a few of their star players a rest against Australia.

"Now that they have qualified, they could be looking to experiment with their bench strength. It depends on what they want to get out of tomorrow's game."

Looking at how the tournament has gone by for India, Dhoni squarely blamed his bowlers for the side's ills.