Mumbai: Sanju Samson is facing the first ball of the fifth India-England T20I, after England’s short balls caused him to be caught in the deep four times in a row. We are going back fourteen months. The venue is the Wankhede Stadium, the last time these two opponents faced each other in a T20I. Samson is up against Jofra Archer, who has already dismissed him thrice in the series in the same fashion.
How does Samson react? He moves wide outside his off-stump to make room, his back leg way across, front leg in line with the off-stump and pulls Archer for a six in front of square leg. Archer follows him, but Samson repeats the dose, this time behind square leg. Then he cuts him over third man for four. This exchange between two equals faded from memory once Mark Wood’s pace hurried Samson in the next over, leading to him holing out to square leg.
Samson’s five dismissals facing bouncers became the lasting impression of his battles against England. Archer, a fast bowler whom Samson once captained in the IPL was the wrecker in chief. Come Thursday, as the succeeding chapter plays out, Samson will look to change the outcome.
Between then and now, Samson’s world has undergone a whirlwind of change. From being pushed down the order and losing his place due to another pattern of dismissals – being caught in front of square, often in the circle – the batting hero has returned to his confident best with a career-best showing in the knock against the West Indies.
Samson rated his unbeaten 97 in Kolkata higher than his three T20I hundreds and it wasn’t only because of the stage. That the high-on-intent batter could unravel layers of his game, not often seen, where he played offensive strokes without high risks—all while adjusting his playing tempo when he lost batting partners and saw the team home—made it a special knock.
After his Man of the Match performance, Samson reiterated that he had no plans to change his much-dissected backfoot trigger, a technique that brought him all the runs, although there were also occasions when he alternated by standing still to face the seamers.
What Samson rediscovered in his last innings was balance in strokeplay. This came with a minute technical switch from his previous struggles: being a fraction early with his backfoot trigger, allowing him time to transfer weight forward when required.
“I wouldn’t want to go into the details, but yes, we did work on his initial (movement) a little,” said Indian batting coach Sitanshu Kotak. “We were just trying to create a better base for him. He also felt he was getting ready a little early, and that helped him.”
“Some have called it the floating (front) foot, delaying the landing of that is what enables great players to do what they do. But, to do that, you need to have your weight on the back foot which helps to stay stable. So, ensuring it’s already loaded and ready isn’t a bad way to ensure you delay your front foot landing which allows you to play late,” explained Zubin Bharucha, a batting coach who has worked closely with Samson.
When they last faced off, Archer attacked Samson with high pace at lengths shorter than 8m for more than 70% of the time according to ball-by-ball data. Thrice Samson holed out to the two waiting fielders at deep square and once to mid-on. On other occasions, Mark Wood and Saquib Mahmood got him out while pulling.
In Tuesday afternoon nets, Archer was letting the short ones rip. If the Wankhede surface plays true to reputation, there is merit in trying the short ball ploy, all over again. The caveat is that if the batter finds the answers, the results could flip to the delight of the home crowd. Samson gave no extra attention to tackling short balls in the evening nets. Instead, he was happy perfecting his foot movements against Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh, simulating what he may encounter from the likes of Archer, Jamie Overton and Sam Curran.
“It will depend on the game situation, but Sanju will probably have no option but to take him on,” said Bharucha of the impending Archer-Samson clash. “There could be a few adaptations along the way like the upper cut or leaving a few, but also knowing it’s a small ground it might be prudent at various junctures to take it on depending on the angle you pick it up from.”
For the packed house anticipating a blockbuster semi-final, watching England’s quickest pacer challenge India’s batting darling will be a mouth-watering prospect to look forward to.
