T20 World Cup: Reasons why England can beat India – and why they can’t

Despite any talk of high-level weaknesses, India remain a fearsome T20 team.

Yes, they were beaten by South Africa and feared by the United States, but there is a reason they entered this tournament as favourites.

Between the end of the last T20 World Cup in 2024 and the start of this one, India won 33 of their 41 matches, making it the most consistent and inconsistent cricket team format ever.

With the bat, they started slowly in this tournament but gained momentum by scoring 256-4 against Zimbabwe in the penultimate match of the Super 8s.

They scored 69 points in the final four that day – something that became a clear strength.

India are only the 10th fastest scoring team in the middle stage of the innings but have hit more boundaries than anyone else at the death. They have hit 57 boundaries in the last four overs compared to England’s 44.

And although India has not lost a T20 at Wankhede since 2017, it is a ground with bad memories for England.

It’s where they lost to the West Indies in the group stage, were beaten by a record 150 runs by India last year – Abhishek scored 135 off 54 balls that day – and lost to South Africa in their biggest one-day international defeat in terms of runs in the 2023 World Cup.

On that day, England melted in the Mumbai heat, with temperatures expected to reach 39 degrees during daylight hours on Thursday.

It won’t get any cooler when the match kicks off at 19:00 local time.