It's Not About How You Get To Semis, It's About Winning Next Two: Morkel on road to last four

Mumbai: India, like England, has not had the smoothest of runs to the last four stage, but bowling coach Morne Morkel played down the home team's inconsistency, saying, "It is not about how you get to the semifinals but about winning the next two games."

Defending champions India were overwhelming favourites going into the T20 World Cup but have had an up and down campaign so far in the tournament. They found themselves in a must-win situation against the West Indies but managed to get over the line.

In a media interaction ahead of the second semifinal against England, Morkel was asked for his views on the bowling performance in the Super 8 including Varun Chakaravarthy, who proved a tad expensive by his high standards.

"They are good teams, they play well. If you expect us to bowl teams around for 120 or 150.... We are in the semi-finals, we have won games of cricket. We know the margins are small in India.

"It is not how you get to semifinals. It is about the next two games how you are going to play," said Morkel.

England too have had their fair share of hiccups heading into the semifinals and searching for the perfect game. It could come against the hosts on Thursday night.

"For us, that is something we haven't really spoken about, the perfect game.

I think the quality of this team has been shown that on the day somebody can put their hand up and put up a performance. Hopefully in the last two games, especially tomorrow night, we can put that special performance in.

"Unfortunately, we all know how the game goes, success is never guaranteed, but if we can give ourselves the best chance to go out and perform, that is what we strive for. A big occasion tomorrow night here, the semi-final, a great stadium to play a great game of cricket, so hopefully the boys can rock up tomorrow and just be calm and execute those plans," said Morkel.

The former South Africa pacer said the series win over England last year is not relevant anymore and termed the Harry Brook-led side a dangerous unit. The series win included a massive victory at Wanhkhede with Abhishek Sharma smashing a memorable hundred.

"Playing against England, they're a team that's street smart. There's a lot of quality in their side, batting quite long, deep, which makes them a very dangerous side.

"With the ball, they've got wicket taking options. I think the way they approach a T20 game, fearless, trying to take the game on, will give you opportunities and it makes them a dangerous side. I feel tomorrow is going to be a good shootout between two aggressive teams," said Morkel.

The weather has turned hotter over the course of the tournament and considering the substantial rise in temperatures, Morkel said it would be important to ensure the surface doesn't dry out. For that reason, there was plenty of grass covering on the eve of the game.

"To be honest, we're not quite sure a day out how the wicket is going to play. I'm pretty sure you experience walking here, it's a lot hotter all of a sudden in India, so in terms of moisture and allowing the wicket not to dry out, I think it's going to be key to play well.

"Team selection will go in terms of what we see on game day. From there, we just need to be smart in our skills, reading the conditions and adapting to it. Plan A is to go in with some sort of idea, but the key is to find that skill of how to play on the wicket on a specific night.

"Like I said, I'll probably have a better indication of what the surface is going to play like tomorrow. At the moment, because of the heat, they have given it a little bit of water, so it's quite soft, so it's quite hard to get a proper 100% accurate read on it," said Morkel.

He added that toss will play a big role if there is dew. Heavy dew is expected in the second half of the game.

"I think the dew is always a big concern. But that's again something you can't control the toss. If there is dew toss is important. I think at Wankhede there's always that extra bit of bounce. Guys can trust the bounce and lead through the line.

"In saying that, that can also, as a bowler, bring you into the game. I just felt or feel that the margins here is a lot smaller. The ball travels, it's quite a small ground.

"So you just need to be really fighting that over, stay in the moment and compete every ball," he added.