History beckons India as England seek ‘perfect game’

India, bidding to become the first team to successfully defend the ICC T20 World Cup title, face an England side hoping to play a “perfect game” in their semifinal at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium today.

The teams are meeting in the last four of the tournament for the third time in a row, with one victory apiece, and the winners went on to lift the trophy on each occasion.

In 2022, England crushed India by 10 wickets in Adelaide and beat Pakistan in the Melbourne final. Two years ago, India won in Guyana by a similarly dominant 68 runs before downing South Africa in Barbados.

India went undefeated in 2024, but this time around, they suffered a defeat against South Africa in the Super Eight stage before responding well with victories over Zimbabwe and West Indies.

India's top order has struggled at the tournament with opener Abhishek Sharma, the top-ranked batter in the format, managing only 80 runs in six matches with three ducks to his name.

Sanju Samson’s unbeaten 97 in their win over West Indies was a welcome boost, however, and India boast explosive firepower in the middle order with skipper Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube.

There are fewer concerns over the hosts’ bowling unit led by top-ranked leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, though the fielding needs to improve after 13 dropped catches.

India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel agreed India had not put together a flawless display in the tournament yet, but said that did not matter.

“It’s not about how you get to the semifinals. It’s about the next two games, how we’re going to play there,” Morne told reporters in Mumbai after India's final training session before the semifinal.

The Indian team had another training session on Tuesday night, which was pushed back by an hour to ensure it did not coincide with a lunar eclipse, which is considered unlucky in the country.

Meanwhile, twice champions England will be confident of causing an upset having found form following a sketchy start to the tournament.

All-rounder Will Jacks has scored 191 runs down the order and captured seven wickets to earn four player-of-the-match awards, and captain Harry Brook, Tom Banton and Sam Curran have all made useful contributions with the bat.

“If there's ever a time we want to play our perfect game, it’s probably Thursday night,” Curran told reporters on Tuesday.

“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 bat and ball.”

Former captain Jos Buttler has struggled badly, however, making only 62 runs in seven matches, and his opening partner Phil Salt also looks short of confidence.

England spinners Adil Rashid, Liam Dawson and Jacks will look to disrupt India’s rhythm, particularly at the Wankhede, where the shorter boundaries and a turning track could prove to be decisive.