Sam Curran and England looking to silence home crowd in T20 World Cup semifinal

Sam Curran and England looking to silence home crowd in T20 World Cup semifinal

The English team will go into the cauldron of the Wankede Stadium looking to topple the defending champions and the favourites of the global tournament.

England though have put in big performances of their own to reach the last four stage, having already beaten co-hosts Sri Lanka in front a boisterous crowd in Pallekele.

Curran said: "We're very prepared for what the crowd's going to be like. As a player you get goosebumps, it's so cool to play in such stadiums and noise.

"If we find ways to keep the crowd nice and quiet, we're probably doing really well in the game situation.

"Flying to Mumbai from Sri Lanka, you kind of think about you dreaming of as a kid, what would you love to do? And that's probably take on India in India.

"It's such an amazing experience. We'll probably start with the national anthems. It'll be incredibly loud and you've got to look at that as an exciting opportunity.

"If the crowd are silent, England are probably going to be doing well. So I guess that's our positive way of looking at it. We played so much cricket in India as players and you just get so used to it and you can block it out and you take it in."

While England have got better in the tournament, one player that is still struggling is opener and former captain Jos Buttler.

The wicketkeeper-batter has only scored 62 runs in seven innings in the competition, but will return to a familiar venue having started his IPL career with Mumbai Indians in 2016.

"He obviously wants more runs, but I certainly would rather have Jos Buttler in my team than coming up against him on Thursday night," Curran said.

"He's done so well for us over many, many years and he's done well at this ground many, many times as well. So, hopefully, Thursday night is his night, but if it's not, there's no question he's one of the best in the world."

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