Harry Brook eyes Number 1 ranking in T20Is with 4-0 rout of India
He “probably didn’t expect” the series against India to be so lopsided but now that England has a winning 3-0 lead, skipper Harry Brook says his team would go all out for a clean sweep to dislodge the reigning world champions from the top of the ICC T20I rankings.
Chasing a modest 158 for 7, Brook led from the front with an attacking unbeaten 79 off 35 balls and together with Phil Salt (59 not out off 42) shared an unconquered 146-run partnership to power England to a comfortable nine-wicket win in the fourth T20I on Thursday for an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
If England win the final T20I in Southampton on Friday, they will displace world champions India from the top spot.
“To go (to) world Number 1 and England going to the semis, that would be pretty cool,” Brook told after Thursday’s match.
“We’ve been told if we win the next game, we go to world Number 1 and that’s definitely a prize that we’re eyeing up. India are a strong side. They probably haven’t been as good (in this series) as they have been over the last couple of years, but we’re really happy with the way that we’ve executed our plans.
“To beat India 4-0 would be a pretty special series win, if I’m being honest, and to go No. 1 in the world would be even better,” he added.
Brook “didn’t expect” such a cakewalk against India in the ongoing series but he said the results so far are a fair reflection of England’s progress in the shorter formats of the game. “The white-ball side’s been on a really good path, if I’m being brutally honest. We’ve been playing extremely good cricket. We’ve been adapting to the surfaces and conditions really well. We had a good World Cup: we just fell just short of 250 in a chase at the Wankhede, which is incredible,” he said.
“I think it (this series) might have changed the mood (around English cricket) a little bit, but we’ve still got one more game to play. Hopefully, we can go to world Number 1 and beat a very strong Indian side.”
