Harry Brook targets 4-0 sweep against India to secure top T20I ranking

BRISTOL: England captain Harry Brook has set his sights on reclaiming the top spot in the ICC Men's T20I rankings after leading his side to a commanding series victory over India with a blistering unbeaten 79 off just 35 deliveries in Bristol.

England's emphatic nine-wicket win in the fourth T20I on Thursday secured an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, giving the hosts their first-ever T20I series triumph over India with one match still to play.

Victory in the final fixture at Southampton on Saturday would see England replace the reigning world champions at the top of the ICC T20I rankings.

Brook also hopes it will be a memorable day for English sport, with England's football team taking on Norway in the FIFA Women's World Cup quarter-finals later the same evening.

"To go [to] world No.1 and England going to the semis, that would be pretty cool," Brook said. "We'll definitely be keeping a close eye on it [the football] and watching the game for sure.

"We've been told if we win the next game, we go to world No.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.

Brook believes completing a 4-0 series sweep would be a significant achievement for his side.

"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 stated.

That's our main aim: we want to go out there and try and beat them convincingly again. We've got to go to Southampton, try and assess the conditions as well as we can - and that's something that we've done really well in this series so far," he added.

Since Brook took over the captaincy last year, England have won 19 of their 22 completed T20Is. They also impressed during the ICC Men's T20 World Cup earlier this year, narrowly missing out on a place in the final after falling short in a daunting chase of 254 against India in the semi-finals.

Brook admitted England had exceeded their own expectations by wrapping up the series with a game to spare but said their performances reflected the progress they had made in white-ball cricket.

"The white-ball side's been on a really good path, if I'm being brutally honest," he said. "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.

The top-order batter said England's recent performances had boosted confidence within the white-ball setup and believed the series success had helped lift the mood around English cricket, although he stressed the team remained focused on finishing the job in the final T20I.

"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 No. 1 and beat a very strong Indian side," Brook concluded.