Brooks Promises Brave Cricket
“I do believe that India were the favourites from the start of the competition, as they should be on their home soil, home crowds and knowing the venues better than anyone else. But T20 is such a fickle game and anything can happen”: Brook
MUMBAI: England captain Harry Brook acknowledges that the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian team are the favourites on their home soil but the swashbuckling batter, true to his nature, has vowed to play with freedom and bravery as the two sides square off in the second semifinal of the ICC T20 World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.
“I do believe that India were the favourites from the start of the competition, as they should be on their home soil, home crowds and knowing the venues better than anyone else. But T20 is such a fickle game and anything can happen,” Brook on match eve.
For him, it was a dream come true to play in a World Cup semifinal against the home nation in an iconic venue and he believes that his side will deliver their best performance against India. “We’re obviously going into the game very confident. We haven’t quite played that perfect, and I feel like it’s just around the corner. Hopefully, we go out there and we just play with freedom and look to take it to them as much as we can,” said Brook.
The two sides have played each other in each of the last two T20 World Cup semifinals, splitting honours. England prevailed in 2022 and went on to claim the title, while India turned the tables in 2024, winning the knockout clash before lifting the trophy themselves.
England’s path to the semifinals has been far from smooth. Against Nepal and Pakistan, they clawed their way back from difficult situations to secure victories, but showed great resilience in a tense chase against New Zealand in the Super-8 stage.
However, Brook believes that his side doesn’t need a perfect game to beat India in Mumbai. “The games that we have won have been nowhere near perfect and we’ve still managed to get the wins convincingly in some of them and then tight (in) the other games. But it’s just the unity that we’ve had to be able to get across the line, the belief that everybody’s shown throughout the games and the calmness that we’ve had when the bowlers have stood at the top of the mark,” he added.
The captain is also not much worried over the lack of big performances from his players as much of England’s success has come through ‘team effort’ in this World Cup. He pointed out that there has not been a single match in the competition so far where his side has been completely outplayed. “All it takes is one of the top seven to get a decent score or one of our bowlers to have an amazing day. So far, it’s mainly been team performances, but I feel like there’s a big individual performance to come soon.”