Manchester: England Twenty20 skipper Stuart Broad on Tuesday said that his team is looking to carry the momentum of the Test series into the one-off Twenty20 game against India on Wednesday.
“Fans and media want you to win but the real pressure for us is in the change room — it’s a game we want to win and are fully focused. We are keen to do well,” said Broad on the eve of the T20 match.
The pacer, however, was quick to point out that the Indians are a different kettle of fish in games that are played with the white balls.
“It’s a different format. Indians are strong in formats, which are played with the white balls. Besides, we haven’t seen a huge amount of them in this format, haven’t done the research and it can catch us by surprise,” said the captain.
“Cricket is big in India. They have some talented players, exciting youngsters and we expect a tough challenge,” he added
Broad though added that India would be hurt by the absence of some key players like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan.
England are defending world champions but Broad felt it gave his side no cushion, especially since they play so little Twenty20 international matches.
“It’s not easy when you meet (with other players) for three days in couple of months. In World Cups, like the one in the Caribbean, we could get momentum even though we had initially lost a practice game in Abu Dhabi.”
England played a practice game among themselves at Old Trafford today morning and Broad said the idea was to see how players respond to pressure in match situations.
PTI
