Sanju Samson’s special preparation for Jofra Archer leaked online

India's wicketkeeper-batter trained in a special way to counter the threat of England's fast bowler Jofra Archer before the third T20I between the two teams at Rajkot. Samson has registered two underwhelming scores in the series so far and will be under pressure going into the next match.

In both the innings, he has been dismissed by Jofra Archer, whose extra pace and bounce have proved to be too much to handle for him. However, Samson seems to have found a way to tackle Archer and prepared differently from the other batters.

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Sanju Samson’s strategic preparation to outsmart Jofra Archer

Sanju Samson went to bat in the training session ahead of the third T20I but immediately went towards the cemented pitch. He was accompanied by India's new batting coach Sitanshu Kotak and some throwdowns specialists.

Samson batted for 45 minutes in the nets as he practiced with plastic balls. His preparation included the pull and hook shots as these have been his mode of dismissals in the first two games of the series.

The 30-year-old was mostly seen to be playing the rising ball with the odd full ball sent by the throwdown specialists. Not just the pull shots, he also practised the ramp and the cut shot to the rising deliveries.

Sitanshu Kotak was seen having frequent conversations with the opener during this period. Samson further went to the main square to bat for another 30 minutes where the focus was to play the rising balls again.

Sanju Samson's dismissals

Sanju Samson has been dismissed while trying to pull a short or a short-of-a-length ball so far in the series. Jofra Archer has picked up his wicket in both matches as he has outdone the batter with his extra pace.

In the first T20I, Jofra Archer bowled a short-of-a-length ball that hurried on Samson. He looked to take him on with the pull shot but was hit high on the bat. Gus Atkinson, who was stationed at the leg-side boundary, ran in to complete a fine catch as Sanju Samson was dismissed for 26 off 20 balls.

It was a similar kind of dismissal in the second match as Samson was dismissed for 5. Archer bowled a hard-length ball that skidded onto Samson. As a result, the batter was cramped for room to a ball bowled at 148 kph as the ball went up in the air for a simple chance to Brydon Carse.

Sanu Samson's golden period

Sanju Samson came into this series in fine form. The right-hander came into this series with three hundreds in his previous five innings. After scoring a hundred against Bangladesh in Hyderabad, Samson's confidence grew and he reignited his international career.

The wicketkeeper-batter struck two consecutive hundreds against Bangladesh and South Africa respectively and showed his destructive capabilities to the world. Samson struck two hundreds in the T20I series played in South Africa.

Meanwhile, India are 2-0 up in the ongoing T20I series against England. The Men in Blue won the first match in a convincing manner but had to fight hard for a win in the second match as Tilak Varma played an innings to remember.