Harry Brook stood hunched at mid-on, chewing his gum a little too hard. One moment’s hesitation, one ball slipping off the heel of his right hand, and England were suddenly chasing a total that always felt ten runs too many.
Sanju Samson had come out flying – 15 off his first six deliveries – when he chipped his seventh straight to Brook. Nine times out of ten it sticks. This time it didn’t. Samson, reprieved, marched to 89 more in 35 balls and India posted 250 at a buzzing Wankhede. England fell seven short.
“I’ll hold my hands up and say that I made a big mistake there dropping Samson,” Brook said. “Catches win matches, don’t they? Unfortunately, it just didn’t stay in my hands… Obviously, it’s in the back of your mind. I kept on looking at the scoreboard and he was piling the runs on. I was like, ‘I’m going to have to get 89 tonight.’”
Brook managed only seven. A slower ball from Jasprit Bumrah was sliced over point; Axar Patel covered 24 metres and clung on with his fingertips – a catch that underlined the difference between the teams in the field. Patel’s night was far from over: later he sprinted round at deep point, lobbed the ball to Shivam Dube, and ended Will Jacks’ dangerous stand with Jacob Bethell. That relay effort felt decisive.
England were not awful in the deep – Brook himself nailed a direct-hit run-out to remove Dube – but the margins told. Next ball, Tom Banton dived forward from long-on and grassed a much tougher chance to reprieve Hardik Pandya. Add those moments together and seven runs are easily found.
India’s catching had been scratchy earlier in the tournament, something captain Suryakumar Yadav was keen to acknowledge afterwards. “We need to give a little bit [of] credit to our fielding coach,” Yadav said. “The boys are responding really well, taking their time even after their personal skill sessions… to do that extra bit for the team.”
Brendon McCullum, never one for excuses, felt the same. “I probably more look at their two catches that they took, to be honest,” McCullum told Sky Sports, when asked about Brook’s drop. “This is not an easy ground”
The head coach preferred, as ever, to highlight positives. Jacks’ 54 from 29 balls and Bethell’s busy 33 had hauled England from 98 for 4 to within striking distance. Sam Curran’s tidy death spell – 2 for 24 in his last three overs – stopped India clearing 260. Yet when push came to shove, Samson’s extra life proved more valuable than any tactical tweak.
There were other small factors: a skiddy pitch offering little grip for Adil Rashid, divots in the outfield making boundary sliding awkward, and a humid Mumbai evening that left fielders wiping sweat from palms before every ball. Experienced sides ride those inconveniences; England, rebuilding after several retirements, are still learning to.
Brook, 27 next month, spoke well afterwards, accepting fault without wallowing. England will need that attitude. A Champions Trophy campaign looms less than a year away and, as Brook put it, “If I’m dropping them in a semi-final, I’d better be catching them in a final.”
For India, meanwhile, Samson’s 97 and Patel’s elastic limbs ensure a second consecutive World T20 final. They will, quite reasonably, back their batting and their suddenly sure-handed fielding against whoever survives the other semi-final in Georgetown.
As both squads left the ground, the big screen replayed Patel’s sliding grab over and over. England’s players looked up once, then kept walking. Lessons, not regrets.
