Harry Brook says togetherness and competitive spirit can take England into final

Harry Brook believes England’s tight-knit unit and a fierce competitive spirit can carry them to T20 World Cup glory rather than the pursuit of perfection.

England have been behind the eight-ball in all seven matches in the tournament but they have remarkably won six of them to set up a blockbuster semi-final against co-hosts India in Mumbai on Thursday night.

Captain Brook has hailed his team’s togetherness, as well as their ultra-ambitious natures as elite sportsmen, for getting them this far, insisting that trumps putting in a complete performance.

“I don’t believe we need a perfect game to win the competition,” Brook said. “I feel like it’s round the corner but the games we have won have been nowhere near perfect and we’ve managed to get the wins.

“The unity and the belief in each other and the belief that we can win games when we do get into those pressure situations, and the calmness that we’ve had, has been outstanding. This team is awesome.

“Everybody wants to win. But even when we’re playing golf, playing cards, whatever, everybody is always really competitive and they always have that slight edge and they take it out into the cricket.”

England did not name their XI on Wednesday, although fast bowling all-rounder Jamie Overton is expected to return ahead of spin-bowling alternative Rehan Ahmed, who starred last time out against New Zealand.

Back in Mumbai after three successive wins in Sri Lanka, England could again face mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who took 14 wickets in five matches during India’s 4-1 T20 series triumph last year.

Varun dismissed Brook on three occasions but the Yorkshireman bristled at suggestions England struggle against spin, arguing six T20 wins in Sri Lanka this year is ample evidence to reject that idea.

“I feel like England always get a bad rap for playing against spin,” Brook said. “We accepted that before coming into this competition, we were going to face challenges on pitches that can assist spin.

“But 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. We’ve got a lot of confidence playing on turning pitches.”

Brook was similarly bullish about hopelessly out-of-form opener Jos Buttler, who has amassed just 15 runs in his last five innings and possesses a meagre tournament average of 8.85.

“You don’t have to talk to him too much,” Brook said. “Leaving him alone is probably the best thing to do. He’s been a powerhouse cricketer for many years as we’ve all seen.

“I’ve been asked this question 1,000 times and I think there should be no reason to question why he’s in the team.”

As well as facing the defending champions, who are favourites to become the first side to successfully defend their crown, England will also have to contend with a partisan 33,000 Wankhede Stadium crowd.

But Brook, who like many of his England team-mates has experienced the animated atmospheres of many Indian Premier League grounds in recent years, has urged his side to embrace the occasion.

“It’s a dream come true for most of us to play in a World Cup semi-final against the home nation at a very iconic ground,” Brook added.

“We wouldn’t say we are underdogs. It would be stupid of us to not be confident. They are probably the favourites but we’re going to go out there and give it a hell of a crack.”