India vs England highlights, T20 World Cup Semi-Final 2026: It is often said in cricket – Catches win Matches. That means matches are won only by catching catches. On March 5, 2026, this saying once again proved true. That too in the semi-finals of the T-20 World Cup between India and England. What is the value of a catch, someone should go and ask England captain Harry Brook right now. Harry Brook will regret this for the rest of his life. If only Sanju had caught Samson that day, who knows the World Cup trophy would have been in hand. Yes, the semi-final match took place between India vs England on 5th March. There was a packed crowd of spectators at Mumbai’s Wankhede ground, when Harry Brook reminded an old story of 27 years ago. At that time too, the World Cup was lost because of a catch.
Yes, cricket is a game of uncertainties. No one knows when your mistake will change the course of the entire match. You must have heard the saying ‘Catches win matches’. Something similar happened in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2026, when England captain Harry Brook dropped a simple catch of Indian batsman Sanju Samson. At that time Sanju was playing only on 15 runs. But taking advantage of this gift of life, he played a brilliant inning of 89 runs in 42 balls. Thanks to this inning, India made a huge score of 253/7 in 20 overs and won the match by 7 runs by restricting England to 246/7. Now India will face New Zealand in the final.
Harry Brook repeated the old story
After the match was over, English captain Harry Brook himself admitted, ‘I made a big mistake by leaving Sanju’s catch.’ This moment of Harry Brook missing the catch reminded cricket fans of a 27-year-old famous story, when South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs dropped the catch of Australian captain Steve Waugh in the 1999 ODI World Cup. Even at that time it was said that dangerous player Hershel Gibbs dropped the World Cup, not the catch. Let us know what happened in the 1999 World Cup.
India defeated England in the semi-finals of T-20 World Cup.
what happened 27 years ago
This is from 1999. The World Cup match was England. On June 13, South Africa and Australia faced each other at Headingley Ground in Leeds. Like England, 27 years ago, South Africa had a big chance to win the World Cup. Australia had a target of 272 runs to win. One catch had changed the entire course of the match. That catch was dropped by Steve Waugh and was dropped by Herschelle Gibbs, one of the great fielders. After missing the catch, Steve Waugh played an unbeaten inning of 120 runs in that match and was chosen as the player of the match. Thanks to his innings, Australia team later became world champion for the second time and South Africa was left with nothing but regrets.
How was that catch missed?
Now Australia had a bad start in chasing the target. 3 wickets had fallen for only 48 runs. Adam Gilchrist bowled on 5 runs, Mark Waugh run out on 5 runs and Damien Martyn out on 11 runs. Then captain Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting came to the crease and took over the innings. Both of them made a partnership of 126 runs for the fourth wicket. When Waugh was playing on 56 runs, he got an easy catch at the hands of Herschelle Gibbs. Gibbs, one of the best fielders in the world, took the catch but tried to throw the ball up in excitement. In his excitement the ball slipped out of his hands and fell on the ground. The umpire declared it not out. At that moment Steve Waugh had said to Gibbs, ‘Friend, you have dropped the World Cup, not the catch.
Herschelle Gibbs had given up the World Cup, not the catch.
Steve Waugh again took advantage of the donation of life.
Taking advantage of this gift of life, Waugh batted brilliantly. He scored unbeaten 120 runs in 110 balls. Ponting also scored 69 runs. Ultimately Australia won the match by 5 wickets with 2 balls remaining. With this victory, Australia reached above South Africa in the Super Six. Four days later, both the teams met again in the semi-finals. The match was tied but due to better run rate Australia went to the final. Australia won the World Cup for the second time by defeating Pakistan by 8 wickets in the final. South Africa’s dream of winning the World Cup was shattered, which has not been fulfilled till date. That mistake of Gibbs is still famous by the name of ‘World Cup Drop’”.
Thanks to Sanju Samson’s innings, India scored a huge score.
Sanju’s catch left him the final ticket.
Now let’s come to this new story of 2026. The second semi-final of T20 World Cup 2026 was played at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. India batted first after losing the toss. Sanju Samson came to open and started playing aggressively in the beginning. 15 runs were scored in the first 6 balls. In the third over, Sanju played a shot towards mid-on on the ball of Joffra Archer. The ball came straight into the hands of Harry Brook, but Brook did not judge it properly. Neither jumped nor stood properly, and the ball hit his right hand and fell. It was a catch that Brook would have made 99 times out of 100, but missed that day.
Sanju becomes Steve Waugh again
After this Sanju started thrashing the England bowlers. Sanju scored 89 runs in a total of 42 balls, which was one of the best innings of his career. India’s score reached 253/7. While chasing, England were reduced to 246/7 despite Jacob Bethel’s 105 runs in 48 balls. Lost the match by just 7 runs. But Brook himself admitted that leaving the catch of Sanju Samson was a big mistake of his. Thus, in 1999, due to Gibbs’ mistake, South Africa was out of the World Cup, and in 2026, due to Brook’s mistake, England missed the ticket to the final. In both the cases, after the drop catch, the batsman played a big innings and changed the course of the match. In this way it is clear how small mistakes in cricket can break big dreams.