File photo of Sanju Samson© AFP
Sanju Samson arrived at the Saurashtra Cricket Association ground here on Monday long before the rest of his India teammates turned up for practice ahead of the third T20I against England. Samson, who was dismissed by England quick Jofra Archer with a short ball in the first two games, had new batting batting coach Sitanshu Kotak and throwdown specialists for company. Padded up, he straightway waltzed to the SCA nets to polish his game against the short ball. Samson batted for around 45 minutes on a cemented pitch where he was fed plastic balls for the pull and hook. Kotak was seen having frequent exchanges with the batter. He mostly negotiated the rising ball along with an odd full ball sent by the throwdown specialists. Besides the pull and hook, Samson practiced the ramp and the cut.
England pace duo of Archer and Mark Wood have posed a few problems for the opening duo of Samson and Abhishek Sharma with their pace and ability to find bounce.
After that extensive hit in the nets, Samson batted in the main square for another 30 minutes or so and the focus was again on the climbing ball.
Samson had a dream series in late 2024 in South Africa where he smashed two hundreds in four T20Is. He had also slammed a century against Bangladesh in a home T20I last year.
However, he has not been picked in the squad for the Champions Trophy, which is in the ODI format.
After a long day at work on Monday, Samson will be backing himself to pass the England pace test in Rajkot on Tuesday.
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