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Samson, who came into the series on the back of three hundreds against Bangladesh and South Africa, has looked ill at ease against the opposition’s pace bowling attack comprising Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, who can both bowl in excess of the 140kmps mark.
India’s Sanju Samson bats during the Twenty20 cricket match between England and India in Rajkot, India, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
Team India will take on England in the fourth iteration of the five-match T20I series in Pune on Friday after having missed the chance to wrap up the series at Rajkot.
England opened their account in the third game of the tour with a 26-run win over the hosts to find their way back into the series and will have an eye on pulling back on level terms with a win at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
Indian opener Sanju Samson, who came into the series on the back of three hundreds against Bangladesh and South Africa, has looked ill at ease against the opposition’s pace bowling attack. As evidence would suggest the blistering pace of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, who can both bowl in excess of the 140kmps mark have troubled the Kerala-born batter who had a field day against lesser seamers in the preceding series.
It is likely that head coach Gautam Gambhir would persist with Samson at the top, but the 30-year-old will have to find a way to negate his troubles against the English seamers.
Dhruv Jurel, who has been a revelation for India in Test cricket, has looked rather out of sorts in the shortest format of the game. While he found a way into the playing eleven with Rinku Singh out with a back spasm, he couldn;t make his mark on the game as he did in the longer format of the game.
With the middle order looking shaky against the English spinner Adil Rashid, the Indian contingent might be looking forward to Rinku’s return to the fold, while Shivam Dube and Ramandeep Singh also provide an option.
Mohammed Shami made his return to the international fold at Rajkot following a prolonged time on the sidelines. Despite his respectable showing, the seamer needs like he requires a bit more rest and India might bring back Arshdeep Singh in order to wrap up the series with a third win in Puen.
Teams (from):
India: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana.
England: Jos Buttler (captain), Phil Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Smith (wk), Adil Rashid, Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Jacob Bethell, Saqib Mahmood.
- Location :
Pune (Poona) [Poona], India, India