Mumbai: England’s recent trips to India for the T20I series have all ended on a disappointing note, with the visitors ending on the losing note. One of the major hurdles for England has been spin bowling, which has stumped them on numerous occasions.
In their last T20I series in India in the 2024-25 season, England lost 1-4, suffering a 150-run defeat at the Wankhede Stadium in the last match of the series. Varun Chakravarthy had emerged as the most successful bowler for India in the series, with Harry Brook, who is leading England in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, falling victim to the mystery spinners on more than a few occasions.
However, on the eve of their semifinal clash with India in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium, with the threat of spin and Varun Chakravarthy looming large, Brook said England have improved in their handling of spin and have done well in the sub-continent, which gives them the confidence that they can negate the spin threat on Thursday.
“I feel like England always get a bad rap about playing against spin. We’ve gone to Sri Lanka, and we’ve won six games in a row against the subcontinent side, who are very good in their own backyard, and we’ve got a lot of confidence playing on turning pitches. Chakravarthy is one of the best bowlers in the world, and I’ll try my best to face him and score as many runs as I can against him,” said Brook in the pre-match press conference at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The pitch selected for Thursday’s semifinal is the same one on which England lost to West Indies, and Italy beat Nepal, with spinners playing a key role in both matches. It was a pitch where the spinners had some assistance; 14 wickets were picked up by the spinners in those two games.
However, Brook presented a confident front to the spin threat and said they too have very good spinners on their side.
“We have got some very good spinners as well. Our spinners have bowled extremely well throughout this competition, and they have to try to tackle that challenge as well. India have produced and always have produced very good spinners, and we know that, and we accepted that before coming into this competition that we’re going to face challenges throughout, especially on pitches that can assist spin bowling.
“But like I said before, we played six T20S, three ODIs against Sri Lanka in this world competition in Sri Lanka, and we only lost one game, so I think we’re going in with a lot of confidence, and like I said before, I feel like England players get a bad rap against spin,” said Brook.
Another reason for Brook’s confidence against the Indian spin threat, besides the series win over Sri Lanka, is their World Cup Super 8s win over Pakistan, where they fought back from a difficult situation to win.
They will be hoping to carry that confidence into the semifinal against India and hope that they can pass the spin test as easily as they did against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
(IANS)
