England will go into the semi-final against India with no fear. Sam Curran described it as a dream and a brilliant opportunity, and they are feeling quite confident about it.
Coming to this match, England have won all their Super 8 games. However, all those games were played in Sri Lanka. Now, they have returned to Mumbai, where they were nearly beaten in the first game against Nepal. After that, they were beaten by the West Indies on the same ground. And the packed crowd of 33,000 supporters will be a hostile one.
Mumbai has been the home ground for a number of players in the IPL and otherwise. So, they will have a home advantage. England played at the same venue in February this year, where Abhishek Sharma made 135 off 54 balls, and England were bowled out in just over 10 overs. It was their worst defeat in T20I history.
In this T20 World Cup, England has yet to produce a truly authoritative performance. However, the captain and coach combo of England have managed to look on the bright side of the games. Sam Curran says, “We win games from scenarios that we probably shouldn’t.”
He adds. “Baz and Brooky are very positive people, and they’re just keeping the group nice and calm.”
“These games are what we dream of. It’s such a cool experience. It’s kind of, how exciting to play India in the semi-final. Everybody knows how we’re going to play them. They know how we’re going to attack them.”
The game against India will be played on the same pitch they played on against the West Indies. It was a game where bowlers, especially spinners, dominated. Curran and the English team had a look at the pitch during their training session. They are expecting it to behave very differently.
Curran said, “I’d be very surprised if it’s a low-scoring, turning pitch.”
“Sri Lanka suited the spinners a lot more, so I took a back seat a little bit with the ball. I presume I’ll be involved a lot more with the ball, and all our seamers will be a bit more involved. I’m excited for that challenge. It’s normally a pretty good wicket, and it’s a small ground, so I’d expect a really high-scoring game. India is a quality side, but we’ve played a lot of cricket here, and we’re not fearing anything.”
He added, “Flying to Mumbai, you think about your dreams as a kid, and it’d probably be taking on India in India.”
“It’s such an amazing experience. It will be incredibly loud, and you’ve got to look at that as an exciting opportunity. If the crowd is silent, England is probably going to be doing well. That’s our positive way of looking at it. The positive for us is we’ve played so much cricket in India as players, and you just get so used to it, you can block it out.”
