Mumbai, Mar 3 (UNI) England all-rounder Sam Curran believes familiarity with Indian conditions and big-match experience could give his side the edge as they prepare to face India in the semi-finals of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Curran said playing regularly at Indian venues removes the element of surprise.
“It’s just nice having played at the ground many times, so there’s not many unknowns for us,” he said.
“We’ve got two days of training now, so we’ll get used to the surroundings, the change room, and the dimensions of the ground. You play at these stadiums so much that 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.
Calling Wankhede a “fantastic” and “iconic” venue, Curran said matches against India in World Cup knockouts are what players dream of.
“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 said.
The all-rounder stressed that England are not overawed by the challenge. “India are a quality side, but we’ve played a lot of cricket here. Most of our team have played in the IPL and against India. We’re not fearing anything. If there’s ever a time we want to play our perfect game, it’s probably Thursday night,” he said.
Reflecting on England’s campaign, Curran said adapting to varied conditions had been a challenge.
“We’ve come across so many different conditions, playing in Sri Lanka and obviously a couple of games here and in Kolkata. We’ve adapted extremely well. You’d probably say that the non-subcontinental teams have adapted really well to the conditions thrown at them.”
He added that the four semi-finalists, India, England, South Africa, and New Zealand, deserved their places.
“I think probably the four best teams are in the semifinals and we’ll see who takes that trophy,” Curran said.
