Having not exactly sailed into the T20 World Cup semi-finals, India must now negotiate a potent spin threat from a dangerous England side as both teams chase perfection in Thursday’s high-pressure knockout game at the Wankhede Stadium.
Overwhelming favourites at the start of the tournament, India have not been able to stitch together a perfect game against stronger sides in the competition.
However, they have served themselves well by adopting a flexible approach after the pasting at the hands of South Africa in their Super 8 opener.
Sanju Samson was brought back into the side to break the predictability of a left-handed top three in the powerplay, and that move has worked brilliantly.
Such are the ways of the game that Abhishek was in the form of his life leading into the ICC event, while Samson had to be dropped from the playing eleven after a dismal run against New Zealand in the bilaterals.
The tables have turned now, and Abhishek is in desperate need of a confidence-boosting innings. The southpaw did get a fifty against Zimbabwe in the Super 8 but remains far from his ballistic best.
England will have their plans ready for the two openers.
Ishan Kishan has gone off the boil after a sensational start to the tournament and would be backing himself to fire at his former IPL home ground.
The same goes for the current Mumbai Indians stars in the national team – captain Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya – who batted for more than two hours in the main net session ahead of the semifinal.
Jasprit Bumrah has been phenomenal as usual, but slight improvement is needed from the bowlers in the last five overs. It will be interesting to see how Surya uses his resources with Shivam Dube proving to be a risky sixth bowling option.
Playing Kuldeep Yadav is always a tempting prospect, but India are unlikely to tinker with their playing eleven.
Both India and England find themselves pitted against each other for the third T20 World Cup semifinal in a row. England had hammered India on the way to the title in 2022 before the latter got their revenge in Guyana in 2024.