T20 Cricket World Cup, India vs England: Captain Harry Brook says ‘unity’ was key to qualify for semi-final

With England needing 43 off the last 18 balls to beat New Zealand on Friday, Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed produced an unbeaten partnership of 44 off 16 balls to secure the win.

In their previous two matches, England had made an under-par 146-9 against Sri Lanka, then bowled out their co-hosts for 95 to secure victory, and were 58-4 against Pakistan before Brook himself hit his stunning century.

These three wins came on the heels of a group stage where England struggled to beat Nepal, Scotland and Italy and lost to the West Indies.

Their success also comes on the heels of Australia’s dismal Ashes tour in Test cricket.

“I don’t think we need a perfect match to win the tournament,” said Brook, who leads England for the first time in the World Cup.

“We won those tough games which proved to be very important in the World Cup finals and we have a lot of confidence in the deeper parts of the game.

“We’ve got a lot of competitive players. Everyone wants to win, which is really a given, but even off the field when we’re playing golf or playing cards or whatever, everyone is always really competitive and they always have that little edge and they take it into cricket as well.”

Brook said he expects Thursday’s atmosphere to be “wonderful,” as the match will be held at the famous Wankhede Stadium in front of 33,000 spectators.

England have resisted naming an eleven ahead of the draw, but all-rounder Jamie Overton looks likely to replace leg-spinner Ahmed.

India were favorites before the tournament, but they also stumbled at times in the tournament.

They were given a scare by the USA in the group stage and lost well to South Africa in the Super 8s.

“I said the other day that there’s a lot of pressure on both sides, and they’ll probably have more going in here with the fans and the disappointment they felt against South Africa as well,” Brook said.

“But we’re going to go out there and stick with what we know and evaluate the conditions as quickly as possible and put up a really good fight.”