Indian team has evolved significantly from the 2022 semi-final: Matthew Mott

The way that they've approached it in the last couple of years is certainly taking the game on extremely hard in the power play," says Mott

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India’s current batting strategy differs significantly from that of the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinal, and both sides will enter Thursday’s match levelheaded, according to England head coach Matthew Mott’s statement on Wednesday.

Prior to taking home the title, two years ago, England destroyed India by 10 wickets in the Adelaide semi-final. Previously criticized for their traditional methods, India is now adapting to the needs of the shortest format.

“Probably the only thing that we’ve discussed is that we feel that they’re a very different team to that semi-final. The way that they’ve approached it in the last couple of years is certainly taking the game on extremely hard in the power play,” said Mott on the eve of the match.

“Rohit (Sharma) with the bat has led the way extremely well and shown leadership in that department, as has Jos Buttler for us. But I think it presents a really unique challenge for us. It’s a venue we don’t know well. We’ve obviously been armed with a lot of information and we think we’ve got a squad to cover it, but there’s a little bit of unknown about what we’re going to get,” he said.

Even though they are the defending champions in this edition, England still has a point to prove after their terrible performance in the ODI World Cup in India last year.

Asked more about India’s changed approach, Mott said, “When we go back to that semi-final, obviously on a good pitch in Adelaide, we put India in and that was a risk. But I thought we felt that they weren’t sure what a good score was. I think the approach now is they would come at us hard and try and maximise that, maybe try and put it out of our reach. You’ve got two great batting line-ups. The bowlers are all class as well. So, it’s going to come down to on the day.”

But India is eager to put an end to their title drought here, having failed to win an ICC trophy for over a decade. Mott emphasized how often India has advanced to the knockout stages.

“What India has done incredibly well over the last few years is put themselves in semi-finals contention and the flip side to that is when you don’t win people look at that as a negative. But I think the consistency that they’ve shown over a length of time shows what a great group of players they are. And like anyone, when you get to the semi-final stage, every team, and the four teams out here, all think they’re in with a chance to win it. And there’s small margins. So, if you take those key moments at the right time, you get over the line, if you don’t, you go home. So, our tournament really starts tomorrow, we’re excited by – we know their players well, they know us well,” said Mott.

Although England’s performance in the competition has not been flawless, Mott stated that this is all in the past.

“There’s a general feeling that our best cricket is in front of us. I think we’ve been pretty good in patches, we’ve done some really good stuff over here, but we haven’t put together that perfect game.

“So, with a bit of luck that happens against India. It’s certainly going to be a great occasion,” added the head coach.

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