India captain Mahendra
Singh Dhoni told reporters Saturday that Sehwag was struggling with an allergic
reaction in his right knee.
“We will take a call (on
Sehwag) either in the evening or by morning before the game,” Dhoni said.
Sehwag is India's leading
runscorer at the tournament with 327 runs at an average of 65.40.
Skipper Dhoni also gave a
strong hint that spin bowler Ashwin and left-handed batsman Raina would play
against the West Indies in the last group match of the tournament.
“Hopefully at the start of
the knockout stages everyone will have played at least one game,” Dhoni said,
meaning Ashwin and Raina - who are yet to appear for India despite calls for
their inclusion - are set to line up at their home ground at Chennai's MA
Chidambaram Stadium.
India's place in the
quarterfinals was confirmed soon after Dhoni addressed reporters, when South
Africa beat Bangladesh by 206 runs in Dhaka. That meant South Africa topped the
group, and guaranteed India's and England's progress. South Africa had already
qualified and West Indies can only miss out now if it loses to India on Sunday
by a colossal margin.
Now safely qualified,
India has even more reason to try out Ashwin and Raina ahead of the knockout
stages.
Raina could replace Sehwag
in the 11, with Gautam Gambhir returning to his preferred role as an opening
batsman and Raina moving to the middle order.
Off-spinner Ashwin is a
logical inclusion for the game on a spin-friendly Chennai pitch, where he will
test West Indies' string of left-handed batsmen.
The West Indian
left-handers struggled against England off-spinners James Tredwell and Graeme
Swann in their loss at Chennai on Thursday, and India could follow suit by
matching Ashwin with fellow off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
The Indians are also
coming off a loss in its most recent game, when they threw away a dominant
batting position to lose nine wickets for 29 runs in Nagpur against South
Africa.
The experienced India
batting lineup had learnt its lesson, Dhoni said.
“I don't think that
whatever happened in that game needs to be addressed in a big way,” he said, “but
the better sides in the world are the ones who don't repeat their mistakes in
short intervals.
“It is always good that it
has happened in the league stages and not the lottery or the knockout stages.
We will take the learnings into the knockout stages.”
