Mumbai, March 4 Unity, belief, and composure under pressure have powered England's charge into the T20 World Cup semifinals, skipper Harry Brook said on Wednesday, asserting that the two-time champions do not need a "perfect game" to go all the way in the tournament.
In an intriguing coincidence, England will face fellow two-time winners India in the second semifinal – a stage where the two teams are clashing for the third successive edition of the T20 World Cup.
Neither England nor India have had a "perfect" game, even though the former enjoys a high win percentage while the latter were considered "overwhelming favorites" only when the competition began.
Brook said he does not believe in having a perfect game as long as other factors are working for his side.
"No, I don't believe that we need a perfect game to win the competition, to be honest," Brook replied when asked if England would need that "perfect game" to beat title favorites India in their backyard.
"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 tightly in the other games," Brook said before England's training session.
"But it's just the unity that we've had to be able to get across the line, the belief that everybody has shown throughout the games, and the calmness that we've had when the bowlers have stood at the top of the mark," he added.
Brook said playing a T20 World Cup semifinal against the tournament co-hosts was a "dream come true" for many of the England players.
"It's definitely up there. 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," Brook said.
However, Brook did happen to mention his wish of having that complete performance once in the tournament.
"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," he said.
"Hopefully, it's tomorrow (Thursday) night, and we go out there and we just play with freedom, play bravely, and look to take it to them as much as we can," he added.
Brook did not read much into the performances of former skipper and opening batter Jos Buttler, who has had a torrid run in the tournament, scoring a mere 62 runs in seven matches at 8.85.
"You don't have to talk to him too much; leaving him alone is probably the best thing to do. He's been a powerhouse of a cricketer for many years, as we've all seen. I've been asked this question thousands of times now. I just think there should be no reason to question why he's on the team," Brook said.
The England skipper said they always get "bad rap" about playing against spinners, but they have, in fact, done well in various conditions in this T20 World Cup, playing at multiple venues such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Pallekele, and Colombo.
"We've gone to Sri Lanka and we've won six games in a row against a subcontinent side who are very good in their own backyard," he remarked.
"We've got a lot of confidence playing on turning pitches. (Varun) 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.
"We've also got some very good spinners. Our spinners have bowled extremely well throughout this competition, and they've (India) got to try and tackle that challenge as well," Brook said.
The England captain hoped for a big individual performance as well, noting that there has never been a game so far in the competition where his side has been outplayed.
"We don't feel like we're ever out of a game so far. All it takes is one of the top seven to get a decent score, or one of our five or six bowlers to have an amazing day out there, and all of a sudden, you're walking away with a victory," he said.
"That's what we've done so well so far. Everybody's kind of chipped in… that game against New Zealand. Everybody had a part to play, whether that's bat, ball, or in the field."
Brook added, "It's definitely, so far, been mainly team performances. But I feel like there's a big individual performance to come."
