India will need a standout performance to overcome a “street-smart” England side in their T20 World Cup semi-final in Mumbai, bowling coach Morne Morkel said on Wednesday.
Sanju Samson’s unbeaten 97 helped India chase down 196 against the West Indies in a winner-takes-all clash in Kolkata on Sunday. Morkel said the team will again need someone to “put their hand up” against England on Thursday to keep India’s hopes of a home World Cup title alive.
“We haven’t really spoken about the perfect game. It’s not about how you get to the semi-finals. It’s about the next two games, how we’re going to play there,” Morkel told reporters at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium after India’s final training session ahead of the match.
Morkel acknowledged that India has not yet produced a flawless performance in the tournament but said that would not matter if a player delivers when it counts. “I think the quality of this team has been shown that on the day somebody will put their hand up. Then hopefully, especially tomorrow night, we can put that special performance in,” he said.
This will be the third consecutive T20 World Cup semi-final between India and England. Both previous winners went on to lift the trophy — in 2022, England defeated India by 10 wickets in Adelaide before beating Pakistan in the final, while in 2020 India won comfortably in Guyana before defeating South Africa in the final.
This time, India will have the support of 35,000 home fans at the Wankhede Stadium. “It’s a big occasion tomorrow night here, a semi-final, a great stadium to play a great game of cricket. Hopefully the boys can rock up tomorrow and just be calm and execute those skills,” Morkel said.
India have been meticulous in their preparations, delaying Tuesday night’s training by an hour to avoid coinciding with a lunar eclipse, considered unlucky in India. “The most important thing to focus on was the quality the guys put in at training, which was great to see,” Morkel said.
England, despite a shaky group stage, advanced through the Super Eights with wins over Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and New Zealand. Morkel described England as “street smart” with deep batting and multiple attacking bowling options. “The way they approach a T20 game, fearless, trying to take the game on, will give you opportunities. Tomorrow is going to be a good shoot-out between two aggressive teams,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, South Africa and New Zealand will face off in the first semi-final.
