England's Sam Curran is calling for a 'perfect game' as they gear up to face India in a highly anticipated T20 World Cup semifinal.
Key Points
- England and India are set for a third consecutive T20 World Cup semifinal clash.
- All-rounder Sam Curran says frequent matches between the two sides and IPL participation reduce the element of surprise.
- Curran wants England to play their 'perfect game' in the semifinal.
- Curran hopes Abhishek Sharma doesn't repeat his previous explosive innings against England.
Set for a third consecutive semifinal clash at the T20 World Cup, India and England won't have any secrets to throw at each other in Mumbai on Thursday, said Sam Curran, hoping for his side to pull off a "perfect game" after a topsy-turvy campaign so far.
India and England have each won one of those semifinals and then gone on to lift the T20 World Cup. While England clinched the trophy after crushing India by 10 wickets in the 2022 edition, India claimed their second title after a 78-run win in 2024.
"It's just nice having played at the ground many times, so there's not many unknowns for us," Curran told reporters ahead of England's training session at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.
"We've got two days training now, so we'll get used to the surroundings, the change room, and (the) dimensions of the ground...things like that. You play (at) these stadiums so much, you get used to different conditions.
"The crowd, the opposition, we play a lot with the Indian guys, so there's going to be no secrets in terms of what each team will probably throw at each other," he added.
England's roller-coaster ride to semifinal
England have endured their fair share of ups and downs in the tournament, including a nervy four-run win over minnows Nepal. In the Super Eight stage, their two-wicket victory over Pakistan was largely thanks to the individual brilliance of Harry Brook, who struck an epic hundred.
"It doesn't really matter now; it comes down to the World Cup semifinal. If there's ever a time we want to play our perfect game, it's probably Thursday night," Curran said.
"We've all been chipping in at different times but we know in T20 cricket it probably just takes a couple of our guys to come good with the bat and good with the ball."
Wankhede is expected to be packed loudest for India on Thursday and Curran knows how "quiet" it would be in what is expected to be a high-scoring contest.
"It's a fantastic stadium, obviously very iconic. I'm sure it's going to be very quiet on Thursday night," Curran said with a smile.
"As a young cricketer, you dream of playing India in a semifinal of the World Cup. It's normally a pretty good wicket, small ground, so I'm probably expecting a really high-scoring game."
Familiar foes and conditions
Despite the defending champions' confident campaign so far, Curran said his side won't be intimidated
"India are a quality side, but we've played a lot of cricket here. Most of our (players in the) team have played in the IPL and against India. We're not fearing anything and I'm sure both teams are really excited by the challenge of Thursday night and hopefully, the perfect game for us happens," he continued.
Three of the four semifinalists in this edition are from outside the Indian subcontinent, and Curran said it is down to adaptability.
"This tournament for us has been a little bit of a challenge in terms of (how) we've come across so many different conditions, playing in Sri Lanka and obviously a couple games in Mumbai and in Kolkata," Curran said.
"We've adapted extremely well. You'd probably say that the non-subcontinental teams have adapted really well to I guess the conditions thrown at them."
And major credit for it goes to the melting pot that is the IPL.
"All of us play a lot of cricket in India now, so we know how to play on these grounds and we know what to expect and the IPL, no question, has helped a lot of that with the players.
"South Africa, New Zealand (are) fantastic teams and we're a really good team as well. And of course, India. I think probably the four best teams are in the semifinals and we'll see who takes that trophy."
Past encounters
It was at the Wankhede Stadium in February last year when India and England had faced off in a T20I, a contest which is remembered for world No. 1 Abhishek Sharma's 54-ball 135 laden with 13 sixes and seven boundaries.
As pressure to get big runs mounts on a currently struggling Abhishek, Curran hoped history doesn't repeat itself.
"I do hope Abhishek doesn't have (a) same knock again. We're very well-planned for the game and we (keep the) focus on Thursday night," Curran added.
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