xslt Removing particular namespace from root only - xslt

Question

I want to remove namespace (xmlns="http://www.cric.com") in the root element and also the comments.
Input xml looks like this
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<AM xmlns="http://www.cric.com" name="Asmkl">
<!-- Sets a new value to the existing parameter -->
<set>
<Payload>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:web="http://www.webserviceX.NET">
<soapenv:Header />
<soapenv:Body>
<web:GetCitiesByCountry>
<!--Optional:-->
<web:CountryName>india</web:CountryName>
</web:GetCitiesByCountry>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
</Payload>
<Verb>POST</Verb>
</Set>
</AM>
I have tried
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:template match="*[namespace-uri() = 'http://www.cric.com']">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="local-name(.)='root'">
<xsl:element name="root">
<xsl:apply-templates select="#* | node()"/>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:when>
<!-- Copy other elemnts -->
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:element name="{name()}">
<xsl:apply-templates select="#* | node()"/>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:template>
<!-- Copy the rest -->
<xsl:template match="#* | node()">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="#* | node()"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
This stylesheet removes from root but adding the namespace in soapenv:Envelope tag.
Desired output is
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<AM name="Asmkl">
<Set>
<Payload>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:web="http://www.webserviceX.NET">
<soapenv:Header />
<soapenv:Body>
<web:GetCitiesByCountry>
<web:CountryName>india</web:CountryName>
</web:GetCitiesByCountry>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
</Payload>
<Verb>POST</Verb>
</Set>
</AM>
but I am getting
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><AM name="Asmkl">
<!-- Sets a new value to the existing parameter -->
<Set>
<Payload>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:web="http://www.webserviceX.NET" xmlns="http://www.cric.com">
<soapenv:Header/>
<soapenv:Body>
<web:GetCitiesByCountry>
<!--Optional:-->
<web:CountryName>india</web:CountryName>
</web:GetCitiesByCountry>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
</Payload>
<Verb>POST</Verb>
</Set>
</AM>
Kindly suggest. XSLT processor is 1.0

Answer 1

How about:
XSLT 1.0
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output method="xml" version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
<!-- move elements in the default namespace into no namespace -->
<xsl:template match="*[namespace-uri() = 'http://www.cric.com']">
<xsl:element name="{local-name()}">
<xsl:copy-of select="#*"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="*"/>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:template>
<!-- "copy" all other elements, without copying the default namespace -->
<xsl:template match="*">
<xsl:element name="{name()}" namespace="{namespace-uri()}">
<xsl:copy-of select="#*"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="*"/>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Applied to your example (after correcting <set> to <Set>!), the result will be:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<AM name="Asmkl">
<Set>
<Payload>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<soapenv:Header/>
<soapenv:Body>
<web:GetCitiesByCountry xmlns:web="http://www.webserviceX.NET">
<web:CountryName/>
</web:GetCitiesByCountry>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
</Payload>
<Verb/>
</Set>
</AM>
Note:
I want to remove namespace (xmlns="http://www.cric.com") in the root
element
I am not sure if you realize that the default namespace declared in the root element:
<AM xmlns="http://www.cric.com" name="Asmkl">
is also inherited by the Set and Payload elements.