‘We’ve still managed to get wins': Harry Brook says England needn't be perfect to beat India in T20 World Cup semi-final

England captain Harry Brook is confident of his team's chances ahead of their T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final against India on Thursday. Brook believes his team doesn't have to be perfect against the Men in Blue, and instead, unity is what matters.

In fact, England haven't had a perfect run in the T20 World Cup. They defeated Nepal in their first group stage match by only four runs, and then went on to lose to West Indies by 30 runs.

Against Sri Lanka in the Super 8 stage, the Three Lions collapsed to 146/9, but they went on to clinch a 51-run win after dismissing the co-hosts for 95.

England were also made to sweat in their other Super 8 match against Pakistan, wherein they won by eight wickets. They chased down a target of 165 with five balls to spare.

"The games that we have won have been nowhere near perfect and we've still managed to get the wins - convincingly in some of them and then tight in the others," he added.

"But it's just the unity that we've had to be able to get across the line, the belief that everybody's shown throughout the games, and the calmness that we've had when the bowlers have stood at the top of their mark," explained the 27-year-old.

Playing against India in India, irrespective of the format, is usually a challenging experience. For Brook and some of his teammates, playing against India at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai is a dream come true moment.

"It's up there for sure. It's a dream come true for most of us to play in a World Cup semifinal against the home nation on a very iconic ground, so we're all really looking forward to it," he said.

Brook, though, hoped to see a flawless performance against the hosts. "We're obviously going into the game very confident. We're playing some good cricket. We haven't quite played that perfect performance yet, and I feel like it's just around the corner.

"Hopefully, it's tomorrow (Thursday) night and we go out there and just play with freedom, play brave, and look to take it to them as much as we can," stated the Yorkshire cricketer.

This will be the third consecutive time India and England are meeting in the semi-finals of T20 World Cups.

England had thumped India by 10 wickets in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final in Adelaide, before the Men in Blue got their revenge two years later in Guyana with a 68-run win. Overall, England and India have played 29 T20Is, with India holding a 17-12 win-loss record.