India and England will square off in the second semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium on March 5.
India and England are set to square off in the second semifinal of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Thursday (March 5).
Ahead of the knockout fixture, England all-rounder Sam Curran said that both sides won't have any secrets to throw, having faced each other quite often in recent years.
This will be the third consecutive semifinal clash between two teams at the T20 World Cup. While England defeated India by 10 wickets at the Adelaide Oval in the 2022 edition, the Men in Blue emerged victorious by 78 runs two years later in Guyana.
"It's just nice having played at the ground many times, so there aren't many unknowns for us," Curran told reporters here ahead of England's training session on Tuesday at the Wankhede Stadium.
"We've got two days training now, so we'll get used to the surroundings, the change room, and (the) dimensions of the ground...things like that. You play (at) these stadiums so much, you get used to different conditions.
"The crowd, the opposition, we play a lot with the Indian guys, so there's going to be no secrets in terms of what each team will probably throw at each other," he added.
Curran hoping for his side to pull off a "perfect game" after a topsy-turvy campaign so far. "It doesn't really matter now; it comes down to the World Cup semifinal. If there's ever a time we want to play our perfect game, it's probably Thursday night," he said.
"We've all been chipping in at different times but we know in T20 cricket it probably just takes a couple of our guys to come good with the bat and good with the ball."
The Wankhede Stadium is all set to witness a "sea of blue" with packed crowds donning Indian team jerseys and waving flags. Curran hoping to silence the Indian fans in what is expected to be a high-scoring affair.
"It's a fantastic stadium, obviously very iconic. I'm sure it's going to be very quiet on Thursday night," Curran quipped.
"As a young cricketer, you dream of playing India in a semifinal of the World Cup. It's normally a pretty good wicket, small ground, so I'm probably expecting a really high-scoring game," he added.
Although the defending champions seem to be peaking at the right time, Curran said his side won't be intimidated.
"India are a quality side, but we've played a lot of cricket here. Most of our (players in the) team have played in the IPL and against India. We're not fearing anything and I'm sure both teams are really excited by the challenge of Thursday night and hopefully, the perfect game for us happens," he continued.
Only the Indian team made it to the final-four stage from the subcontinent, and Curran put it down to adaptability.
"This tournament for us has been a little bit of a challenge in terms of (how) we've come across so many different conditions, playing in Sri Lanka and obviously a couple games here and in Kolkata," Curran said.
"We've adapted extremely well. You'd probably say that the non-subcontinental teams have adapted really well to I guess the conditions thrown at them."
"All of us play a lot of cricket in India now, so we know how to play on these grounds and we know what to expect and the IPL, no question, has helped a lot of that with the players.
"South Africa, New Zealand (are) fantastic teams and we're a really good team as well. And of course, India. I think probably the four best teams are in the semifinals and we'll see who takes that trophy," he remarked.
When India faced England in a T20I match at the Wankhede Stadium last time, Abhishek Sharma blasted 135 off 54 balls to script his team’s thumping 150-run victory.
"I do hope Abhishek doesn't have (a) same knock again. We're very well-planned for the game and we (keep the) focus on Thursday night," Curran concluded.
(With PTI Inputs)