For the third straight T20 World Cup, India and England will clash at the semi-finals stage.
Defending champions India booked their spot in the semi-finals after a hard-fought win over the West Indies in their final Super Eight stage match after a sensational innings of 97 not out from Sanju Samson.
It has been a largely underwhelming tournament so far for India with both their batting and bowling failing to live up to the mark set by them last season.
Their last-four opponents England too have been up and down.
The 2022 champions were lucky to clinch a four-run win over Nepal early in the group stage, while they almost made a meal of their Super Eight match against Pakistan, scraping home by two wickets.
Even so, the nature of the format and the structure of the tournament is such that consistency very rarely matters.
Both England and India have been far from impressive or consistent, but are now one step away from the final. Luck, as they say, is a big factor in the T20 format.
Did India change their training schedule?
The pressure will be squarely on India in Thursday's semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai as they are not only the hosts but the title holders.
Suryakumar Yadav's team trained under the Wankhede lights on Tuesday evening for what promises to be a highly entertaining match.
Given the way the tournament has gone for them so far, the Indian team is not exactly brimming with confidence. And is possibly a bit cautious.
According to the Indian Express and Sportstar, the Indian team changed their training schedule on Tuesday for a peculiar reason.
Yesterday saw a total lunar eclipse in India from 3.20pm local time to around 6.45pm. The Indian team was scheduled to train from 6pm but pushed their training back by an hour, arriving at the ground only by around 7pm.
According to the reports, members of the team management believe the lunar eclipse to be an inauspicious time as per their religious beliefs and thus decided to postpone training to avoid bad luck.
On Wednesday, India held an optional training session in the morning while members of the team visited a temple in Mumbai.
Later, India bowling coach Morne Morkel confirmed that the team's training session was postposed due to the lunar eclipse.
Cricketers, and many athletes, are known to have unique habits ahead of matches. The more common ones are putting cricket gears in particular order and at specific places in the dressing room.
There are many peculiar ones as well, though. Former England batter Mark Ramprakash would chew the same piece of gum throughout an innings, even sticking it to the top of the bat if he was batting overnight.
South Africa batter Neil McKenzie had many strange routines, including taping bats to the ceiling. Fellow South African pacer Makhaya Ntini would carry a piece of cow dung in a plastic bag as a good luck charm.
The most famous piece of lore in cricket is Steve Waugh and his lucky red rag that he carried in his pocket while batting throughout his career.
