Harry Brook appeared to be in shock at what he had just done as he leaned half forward, hands on his knees, and chewed gum ferociously.

Sanju Samson lofted his seventh consecutive to mid-on after scoring 15 runs off his first six balls on a boisterous night at the Wankhede. Harry Brook would ordinarily expect to make this kind of catch, but for some reason he misjudged it: the ball sprang up off his right hand before hitting the ground, and he neither jumped nor stood motionless.

Immediately after Samson’s game-winning 97 not out against the West Indies, Harry Brook realised how costly his drop may be. It wasn’t until Phil Salt held onto a steepler at deep cover off Will Jacks’ bowling that Harry Brook could finally breathe a sigh of relief. He added 74 more runs off his next 35 balls to propel India towards 250.

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It wasn’t the only flaw in England’s performance: Hardik Pandya was given a reprieve off the very next ball when Tom Banton failed to hang onto a far tougher opportunity, racing in from long-on and diving forwards. Brook then dismissed Shivam Dube with a bullseye, direct-hit run-out. They were costly misses on a night when the teams were separated by just seven runs.

“I’ll hold my hands up and say that I made a big mistake there dropping Samson,” Harry Brook remarked. “Don’t catches win games? Regretfully, it simply did not remain in my possession. It’s at the back of your mind, of course. I couldn’t stop staring at the scoreboard as he continued to score runs. ‘I’m going to have to get 89 tonight,’ I thought.

He only scored seven, losing to an incredible, athletic performance by Axar Patel that demonstrated the disparity in the two teams’ ability to catch under duress. When he cut Jasprit Bumrah’s first delivery, a slower ball, over the off side, Harry Brook believed he had cleared the infield. However, Patel covered 24 metres before diving at full stretch and holding on with his fingertips.

Nor was Patel finished for the evening. During an incredible 77-run partnership for the fifth wicket, Jacob Bethell and Jacks were on the verge of taking the game away from India, but Jacks was defeated by a magnificent relay effort at deep point. After sprinting around for 21 meters this time, Patel lobbed the ball up to Shivam Dube to finish the catch.

Prior to this semi-final, India’s catching had been subpar, and skipper Suryakumar Yadav was keen to commend fielding coach T Dilip for his diligent work with the team during training. “We need to give a little bit [of] credit to our fielding coach,” Yadav stated. “The boys are responding really well, taking their time even after their personal skill sessions… to do that extra bit for the team.”

When asked about Harry Brook drop, England’s head coach Brendon McCullum told Sky Sports, “I probably more look at their two catches that they took, to be honest,” highlighting the difference in catching as “the difference” in the game. Both teams occasionally mishandled balls in the deep, possibly as a result of some divots in the outfield. “Fielding at this field is difficult, especially when the crowd is as boisterous as it is and the ball is flying everywhere. The difference between winning and losing the game was Axar Patel’s ability to make those receptions.

“If one of those, especially the one on the boundary rope, crosses the rope… Six runs alone made up the seven-run gap. They therefore took a stand during those two pivotal periods. From our perspective, their fielding tonight was disappointing because it hasn’t been very well throughout the tournament. Good luck to them.

Due to Samson’s early assault, which saw him reach 41 off 20 balls during the Powerplay, Harry Brook dismissal was very upsetting for England.

In the first six overs, England scarcely had a ball to swing or seam, and Jofra Archer frequently fell short to Samson, which McCullum blamed on the sharp bounce available.

“Jof’s had a really good record against Sanju in the past and he’s dismissed him on a number of occasions,” McCullum stated. We wanted to try bowling a little bit fuller, but he clearly created the opportunity, which we laid down, and he was able to take advantage of it from there. “When you have a player as powerful as Sanju, he’s able to capitalise on it and he put us under pressure.”

At Wankhede, sometimes what feels like a good length is actually short of a length because of the extra bounce that it gets. We simply got a little caught up with that and weren’t quite able to execute. Again, when you have a player acting that way, it’s difficult to regain your composure.”

With the exception of their victory over Pakistan in Pallekele, England’s fielding during 2017 World Cup has been excellent overall. After making a lot of catches in the Ashes and reaping the benefits up to that point, they brought back a specialised fielding coach in Carl Hopkinson.

But in the end, the team that handles the strain and the occasion of a knockout match the best usually wins tournaments. That was India on a Thursday evening in Mumbai.