T20 World Cup: England put India to bat first with one big change for semifinal, know Playing XIs

India take on England as Harry Brook won the toss and chose to bowl first in their T20 World Cup 2026 semifinal at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on March 5. India made no changes to their playing XI for the key clash. Meanwhile, South Africa made one big change to their playing XI, and brought in Jamie Overton in place of Rehan Ahmed.

What did the captains say at the toss?

England captain Harry Brook, after winning the toss, said:

"We're going to have a bowl. Looks like a good wicket, hopefully we can get off to a good start with the ball. They've obviously got a lot more experience on this ground than us. T20 cricket is such a fickle game, you never know what's going to happen. Hopefully we can keep them quiet. Overton comes in for Rehan."

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India skipper Suryakumar Yadav, after losing the toss, said:

"We were looking to bat first. Semifinal, big game, and there's wind around too. Don't think there will be much dew. Looks a good one (the pitch). The best one. Credit to all the curators and groundsmen. Same team."

India (Playing XI):

Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah

England (Playing XI):

Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w), Harry Brook(c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid

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Head to Head

India and England have locked horns with each other five times in T20 World Cup 2026. While Men in Blue have emerged victorious thrice, England have won on three occasions.

Pitch Report

"The wonderful Wankhede Stadium, the venue for this second semi-final, and it feels a little bit warmer in the middle than when we're here for the group stages. If you look at the weather forecast, 32 was the high. It's going to go down to 28 degrees, but also there's a lovely breeze down the ground - 15k - and that's hitting in the direction of the Tendulkar and Dilip Vengsarkar stands. We are pitch 7, which is right in the middle, and the ground dimension, 75 metres down the ground and equidistant on both sides, 65 metres and 65 metres. We're right in the middle. Wonderful amphitheatre. What about the pitch and the surroundings? I think the battle really starts beyond the boundary with the sea of blue that's going to be here supporting India. England are going to have to quieten that. They've applied an anti-dew repellent onto this ground, so hopefully that keeps the dew away and keeps it quite, suppose, equal for both teams. The surface itself, it has spun more historically than any of the other pitches on this square or in this country. And that's about 2.3 degrees of turn. However, I'm not saying that's going to happen tonight because it feels a little bit harder. I've been told that they've cross-rolled it. There's a little bit more grass along here, so I'm crossing my fingers that it'll be a nice surface where the ball comes on," Nasser Hussain and Ian Bishop analysed the pitch.