We are wary of India: Broad
First Published : 23 Sep 2012, 12:33
Last Modified : 23 Sep 2012, 12:33
Colombo, Sep 22: Satisfied with their preparation for the ongoing ICC World T20, a confident England side will take on India on evening of September 23. With their place assured in the Super Eights, the Stuart Broad-led side is expecting a competitive game in the last match of Group A. Broad discussed his team's capabilities and assessed his opposition’s strengths while speaking to the media ahead of the match.
Excerpts from his pre-match press conference:
On the team’s preparation
We had some good challenges over the last few weeks. It’s been a real advantage for us to have a couple of weeks together before this tournament started. We played against South Africa, who are a world-class team. Australia and Pakistan over here [in the warm-up matches] were really good challenges as well. We have been performing and competing against top-level teams, so it’s not like we are coming against India as our first real challenge in the last few weeks. We do know the dangers they offer. But if we focus on what we did really well today, we can be a challenge for anyone.
On his team's strengths and weaknesses
If we have batsmen towards the end, you can see how dangerous we can be. And the aggression we showed with the ball and in the field to take our chances like we did was superb. I said at half time that the day is only 50 percent done; we did it fantastically well but we need to stay calm and deliver our skills. We did that really well for the first ten overs and that’s something we need to continue with on Sunday.
On India
India have got a powerful batting line-up. We know the dangers they offer, they have played a lot of Twenty20 cricket domestically and internationally. You look towards the whole tournament, there’s not a weak side in it. You have got to play good cricket all the way through to win and that won’t change on Sunday. But one thing I will say – if we play cricket like we did against Afghanistan, the way we went about things, the passion and the energy we showed in the field – we will be in a good position.
On the intensity of the match against India
It’s hard to call any game meaningless when you are putting on the three Lions of England and taking the field as an international. Whether it was a must-win for us on Sunday, or whether we don’t have to win to go through, it won’t change the way we approach the game. Any game against India is huge, and we know how passionate the Indian fans are about their cricket. It certainly won’t dampen the mood on Sunday that we are already through. It will be a fantastic game of cricket.
On Yuvraj Singh
To have an illness like that, it’s horrible to see – the whole cricketing world got behind him. But it’s amazing to see him back playing for India. We know what a dangerous player he is. He is someone every team, when you play against him, you look out for him, do your research on him. It’s amazing to see a player come back from an illness like that, and to come back as strongly as he has.
