NEW DELHI: England captain Harry Brook admitted that costly fielding lapses — including a dropped catch of Sanju Samson — played a decisive role in his side’s defeat to India in the semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Thursday.
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Speaking during the post-match presentation, Brook conceded that England misread the conditions and failed to execute their plans, particularly in the field, allowing India to post a daunting total.
“We thought there might have been hold, spin in the first innings, slid onto the bat nicely, and India batted well. I’ll hold my hands up and admit I made a big mistake dropping Samson.
We weren’t good enough in the field. We misexecuted, and can’t afford to do that against India,” Brook said.
The turning point came when Brook dropped Samson while the Indian batter was on just 15. The chance, off the bowling of Jofra Archer, proved extremely costly as Samson went on to anchor India’s innings with a commanding knock.
Samson’s blistering 89 off 42 balls powered India to a formidable 253/7, a total that eventually proved just out of England’s reach.
“Yeah, catches win matches, don’t they? Unfortunately, it didn’t stay in my hands and yeah, it’s just one of those things. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch it and he played a very, very good innings as well and arguably won them the game,” Brook said.
The England skipper admitted that the missed opportunity stayed on his mind throughout the chase.
“Obviously, it’s in the back of your mind as the game goes on. I kept on looking at the scoreboard and he was piling the runs on. I was like, ‘I’m going to have to get an 80 or 90 tonight.’ Not ideal, but it’s happened now,” he added.
Despite the defeat, Brook found positives in England’s spirited chase, particularly praising young batter Jacob Bethell for his fearless century.
Bethell smashed 105 off just 48 balls, while Will Jacks contributed 35 during a counter-attacking partnership that briefly revived England’s hopes.
“Bethell was absolutely unbelievable, he’ll earn some serious money. To see him taking it from ball one showed the world what he can do,” Brook said.
England eventually finished on 246/7, falling agonisingly short despite Bethell’s heroics and a late blitz from Archer. Brook, however, insisted his side could still take pride in their campaign.
“We had a good tournament; we should be extremely proud of how we played. We stuck to it the whole game; unfortunately, we were on the wrong side,” he said.
Get the latest ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, IND vs ENG Live Score updates, including the full schedule, teams, points table, and key series stats such as top run-scorers and wicket-takers.
