Sam Curran insists England are ‘not fearing anything’ when they take on India

Sam Curran is undaunted at taking on India in another T20 World Cup semi-final despite England also having to contend with a noisy, partisan Mumbai crowd on Thursday night.

The teams met at the same stage in the last two editions, with England claiming a crushing 10-wicket win in Adelaide in 2022 although India gained revenge in Guyana in 2024, prevailing by 68 runs.

India have home advantage for the trilogy contest but Curran and several of his England team-mates have experienced the Wankhede Stadium at its boisterous best at the Indian Premier League in recent years.

“It’s an experience as a young cricketer you dream of: playing India in the semi-final of a World Cup,” all-rounder Curran said. “India are a quality side but we’ve played a lot of cricket here.

“We know how to play on these grounds and we know what to expect. The IPL, no question, has helped a lot of that with the players. Having played in the ground many times, there’s not many unknowns.

“We’re not fearing anything and I’m sure both teams are really excited by the challenge. If the crowd are silent, England are probably going to be doing well. That’s our positive way of looking at it.”

England are back in India, where they played during the first group stage, after three successive wins in Sri Lanka in the Super 8s although, by their own admission, they are yet to hit top gear.

While Will Jacks has starred with bat and ball and claimed four player-of-the-match awards, Jos Buttler is at the other end of the spectrum with just 15 runs from 27 balls in his last five innings.

“He obviously wants more runs, but I certainly would rather have Jos Buttler in my team than be coming up against him,” Curran, who anticipates a high-scoring match against India, said.

“If there’s ever a time we want to play our perfect game, it’s probably Thursday night. (Beating India in Adelaide four years ago) is something we can hopefully model our game on. That was great memories.

“We’ve been playing really good cricket and finding ways to win. I see that as a positive. We chat around the group that we’ve all been chipping in at different times.”

Curran has been in that camp, shutting down hopes of Nepal and Italy upsets with nerveless overs at the death, and he expects to be used more in Mumbai with the spinners taking centre stage in Sri Lanka.

It is a far cry from 12 months ago, when Curran – the player of the tournament in England’s triumphant 2022 campaign – was out of all three England sides and out-of-favour with head coach Brendon McCullum.

However, he excelled in various franchise leagues, evolving his game which included patenting a mid-40mph moon ball, to earn a recall at the back end of last summer and he has not looked back.

Curran, who has also contributed handy cameos with the bat from number six, reframes his time out of the side as a refresh but the 27-year-old says he is fully focused on the here and now.

“I weirdly looked at it as a positive when I was out of the side,” he added. “I felt like I developed in different areas. Looking back now, the way things have gone, I see it as a positive.

“But I don’t want to look back at the tough times. I feel like I’m one of those guys who will be really excited and bringing out all I can for everyone.”