England focusing on controllables as semi-final beckons

As India and West Indies go head-to-head for a semi-final spot at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 on Sunday, England will keep a keen eye on the game.

Already through to the final four, England finished the Super Eight stage at the top of Group 2 after a four-wicket win over New Zealand in Colombo on Friday.

England will now head to Mumbai for their semi-final clash, scheduled to take place at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, March 5 against either India or West Indies. This is the fifth time in a row that England had made the semi-final or better at the T20 World Cup.

Rather than worrying about who they will play in the semi-finals, England is focussing inwards and the team's strengths.

"We're not bothered," England captain Harry Brook said after the Friday's match against New Zealand.

"We've just got to go out there and whoever we're facing, they're going to be a tough opponent anyway."

"It would be massive, yeah," England all-rounded Will Jacks said about the prospect of playing India in Mumbai, the site of their 2011 ODI World Cup triumph.

"Everyone knows about India and the storyline that that brings.

"It could also be the West Indies and they've beaten us in Mumbai, so we know how tricky that's going to be.

"We'll be watching their game Sunday and we'll see the outcome. We'll be prepared and I think we'll go into it with optimism and excitement."

England are no strangers to the Wankhede Stadium either, having played the first two matches of their World Cup campaign in Mumbai. While England lost to the West Indies, they survived a scare against Nepal in their tournament opener.

"We've already played against West Indies at the Wankhede already, so a little bit of experience there," Brook said.

"It's nice to go back to a ground that we've already played on as well. Both sides are very strong, very powerful teams and we've just got to go out there and try and do the little things well again."

After a tough start to the tournament, England are hitting their stride. Brook's side finished unbeaten in the Super Eights despite not playing to their full potential yet.

"We've won six out of seven games and we've qualified for a semi-final," said Jacks, who has been the standout performer for England with both bat and ball. With four Player of the Match awards, he is now level with Shane Watson for the most POTMs in a single T20 World Cup edition.

"At the end of the day, no one really cares (about the perfect game). We obviously want to play well in there, but we're not gutted that we haven't played the perfect game because we're winning. And that's T20 cricket, that's professional sport. It's also incredibly hard to do that.

"You're playing against a very strong side who have prepared as well as you, and they know what they're trying to do and they're also trying to play the perfect game. So the chances of that happening are very slim."

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