ENG vs IND: Harry Brook eyes No. 1 T20I ranking after England clinch series against India

England captain Harry Brook has made it clear that climbing to the top of the ICC men’s T20I rankings is his team’s next big target after wrapping up the series against India. Following England’s dominant performances, Brook said securing the No. 1 ranking has become the side’s biggest motivation. A convincing nine-wicket win in the fourth T20I at Bristol handed England an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. Victory in the final game at Southampton would see England overtake India and become the world’s top-ranked men’s T20I side.

"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," Brook said after the Bristol win.

“India are a strong side. They probably haven’t been as good 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. To go No.1 in the world would be even better. That's our main aim. We want to go out there and try and beat them convincingly again.”

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Brook attributed England’s success in the series to their ability to read conditions and adjust their game accordingly, something he feels has been a key advantage against the reigning T20 world champions.

"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 said.

The Southampton encounter will also take place on the same day as England’s FIFA Women’s World Cup quarter-final against Norway and Brook admitted the squad would be following the football action closely.

“To go world No.1 and England going to the semis, that would be pretty cool,” he said. “We’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on it and watching the game for sure.”

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England’s rise under Brook has been impressive. Since assuming the captaincy, the team has won 19 of its last 22 completed T20Is and also reached the semi-finals of this year’s T20 World Cup, where their campaign ended with a defeat to India.

However, Brook believes the team’s progress has been building over time rather than happening overnight.

“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.”

Despite already sealing the series, Brook stressed that England’s focus remains firmly on ending it with another victory.

"I think it might have changed the mood 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."