‘According to Indian media we are’ – Ben Stokes makes huge claim ahead of 20-20 World Cup semi-final against India
India and England are all set to go against each other in the second semi-final of the 20-20 World Cup 2022 on Thursday at Adelaide. Both sides are currently ranked at no 1 and no 2 spots, respectively, in the T20I team rankings and the contest between the top two teams promises to be a mouth-watering one. Ahead of the mega-clash, England all-rounder Ben Stokes expressed his thoughts on the possibility of India vs Pakistan final.
Talking to the media in the pre-match press conference, Stokes said that amid all the talks around India vs Pakistan final, England are determined to win the semi-final on Thursday.
“That would be great news for you guys, wouldn’t it? India vs Pakistan final. We’re just hopefully here to win on Thursday,” said Stokes.
Commenting on the ‘underdogs’ tag ahead of the semi-final, Stokes said that the team tries to focus more on itself rather than focussing on India.
“According to the Indian media we definitely will be(underdogs),” he said. “But one thing we will definitely try and do is focus more on ourselves rather than too much on India. We know if we play anywhere near as well as we know we can, we are a very hard team to beat.”
We will go in with a similar mindset : Ben Stokes
England managed to beat India in the must-win game during the 2019 ODI World Cup. Talking about taking inspiration from that match, Stokes said that England will take field with a similar mindset in the semi-finals as well.
“I think the result maybe you don’t look at. But it’s the way we went out and played, the mindset and mentality we had in a do-or-die game. We didn’t take a backward step so I think we can take a lot of confidence knowing if we go in with a similar mindset hopefully we’ll do all right,” he added.
After having a quiet World Cup with the bat, Stokes showed some signs of a return to form in the match against Sri Lanka as he scored a 36-ball 42 to take his team home in a tricky chase. The spotlight will be, once again, on Ben Stokes as England take field in the semi-final against India on Thursday.
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