Harry Brooke admitted on Wednesday that India are favorites to win the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on home soil in 2026, but warned that England’s “perfect performance” is “just around the corner”.
The previous two winners of the T20 World Cup — India in 2024 and England in 2022 — will face off in a blockbuster semi-final at Mumbai’s iconic Wankhede Stadium on Thursday night.
The match will be played in a cauldron-like atmosphere — with temperatures predicted to be in the mid-30s Celsius, with 35,000 Indian fans expected to raise the roof.
Hundreds of millions more will follow on TV and streaming platforms across the cricket-crazed nation.
Asked if it was better than that, Brooke said: “It definitely is.
“It’s a dream come true for most of us to play in an iconic stadium in a World Cup semi-final against our home country,” the England captain told reporters at the Wankhede stadium, minutes before his team’s final training session ahead of the semi-final.
“We are playing with a lot of confidence. We are playing some good cricket.
“We didn’t play that perfect performance, but I feel like it’s just around the corner.
“Hopefully tomorrow night, we go out there, we play with freedom, we play with guts and we look to take it to them as much as we can.”
This is the third T20 World Cup in a row, with England playing India in the semi-finals, and each time the winners have lifted the trophy.
England beat India by 10 wickets in Adelaide in 2022 and beat Pakistan in the Melbourne final.
India won by 68 runs in Guyana two years ago before beating South Africa in Barbados.
“I believe India were favorites from the start of the tournament because they have to be on their home ground, with their own crowd and know the venues better than anyone else,” Brook said.
“But T20 is a very flexible game, anything can happen.”
England faced a hostile crowd at the Wankhede Stadium in the first game of the tournament when they beat Nepal in a penultimate-ball thriller.
“We’ve won tight games and that proved to be very important at World Cups,” Brook said.
England were knocked out in the group stage but managed to reach the Super Eight with impressive wins against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand while losing all three games easily.
“We’ve won games we shouldn’t have won, and we feel like we’ve never been outscored in any game so far,” Brook said.
“It stands you in good stead at these world championships.”