Suryakumar Yadav (right) and Tilak Varma during practice. (Getty Images)

Mumbai: India and England will meet in their third consecutive T20 World Cup semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday evening. Each side won one game in the previous knockout rounds, with the winner taking home the trophy.Push boundaries with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!England beat India by 10 wickets in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-finals on a flat pitch in Adelaide with Alex Hales (86 not out) and Jos Buttler (80 not out) chasing the score to 170 in the opener. Two years later, India took revenge with a 68-run victory at Providence against spinners Kuldeep Yadav (3-19) and Axar Patel (3-28) bowled England for 103 runs in 16.4 overs.

In January last year, India defeated England 4-1 in the five-match T20I series and sealed the victory with a 150-run win at the Wankhede. However, the stakes are much higher in the World Cup semifinals.Both teams go into the match with confidence, although England appear to have more momentum after winning all three of their Super 8 matches against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and New Zealand. Meanwhile, India will be looking to defy history – no defending champion has defended the T20 World Cup and no host nation has won the title. In fact, in subsequent editions, no defending champion even made it to the finals.India tops Group A along with Pakistan and its affiliates, having won all four league matches. However, their batting looked vulnerable against spin on slower balls. This was evident in Wankhede’s match against the United States, where the hosts trailed 77-6 before the captaincy change Suryakumar Yadav An unbeaten 84 off 49 balls saved them.

England began their campaign with a narrow four-run win over Nepal in Wankhede, with Sam Curran defending 10 runs in the final over and Will Jacks producing an all-round performance.They later lost to West Indies by 30 runs at the same venue, with Sherfane Rutherford smashing 76 off 42 balls and Caribbean spin stifling England’s batting.India’s Super 8 season began with a 76-run loss to South Africa in Ahmedabad. They beat Zimbabwe by 72 runs in Chennai, scoring 256 for four, and then beat West Indies by 5 wickets at Eden Gardens, with Sanju Samson’s unbeaten 97 off 50 balls powered by Jasprit Bumrah’s double.Meanwhile, England started the Super 8 tournament with a 51-run win over Sri Lanka before ousting them for 95 runs. They then defeated Pakistan in the two-wicket match, with captain Harry Brook scoring 100 off 51 balls and Liam Dawson taking 3-24. England secured a spot in the semi-finals with a four-wicket win over New Zealand.

Samson has been one of India’s most consistent batsmen, in stark contrast to opening partner Abhishek Sharma, who has managed just 80 runs in six games at an average of 13.33, including three ducks.His fifty against Zimbabwe remains his only significant contribution. The left-hander will hope to rediscover his touch on the pitch where he once scored 135 off 54 balls.England are also worried about their opener. Buttler has scored just 62 runs in seven games at an average of 8.85, while Phil Salter has struggled to maintain consistency apart from scoring 62 runs against Sri Lanka at Palleke. Samson, who has been struggling with short-pitch bowling, and Abhishek, who is out of form, may face a stern test from Jofra Archer in the powerplay.However, Archer also found Wankhede’s performance unforgiving, taking 1-42 against Nepal and 1-48 against West Indies.Ishan Kishan has been silent since his 40-ball 77 against Pakistan in Colombo. However, he and Suriya, Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya – all former Mumbai Indians players – will be familiar with Wankhede’s conditions. Ranked 3rd and 6th, he scored 44 not out from 16 balls against Zimbabwe and 27 from 15 balls against West Indies.India’s vulnerability to spin is likely to be tested again by the England attack that features Adil Rashid, Liam Dawson, Rehan Ahmed and off-spin all-rounder Will Jacks. India will fight back with Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel, although Varun has struggled to find his rhythm – a far cry from last year’s bilateral series against England, when he took 14 wickets in five games at an average of 9.85.