New Delhi, March 5 (IANS) Former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has said Abhishek Sharma, with his remodelled stance, could look to counter the threat posed by England pacer Jofra Archer by scoring as many runs as possible through the off side when the Men's T20 World Cup semi-final takes place at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday evening.

Abhishek has enjoyed complete dominance over Archer in their head-to-head battles in T20Is, scoring 61 runs off 5 innings without being dismissed at a blistering strike rate of 185. Despite that, Archer has enjoyed success against India in T20Is by picking 14 wickets against them, his greatest number of scalps against any opponent.

“If you look at his stance, his front-foot toe is now facing towards cover, and his shoulders are straight. Earlier, his toe was pointing towards mid-off, and his shoulder was open. With the current stance, his hands are very close to his body, which is also allowing him to maintain good balance with his head.

“Abhishek is very strong on the off side. If you look at his boundary options, anything in that zone, in the fifth or sixth stump line, closer to the wide line, he is extremely strong and his strike-rate is very good. Now, what is Jofra Archer’s strength? Most of his deliveries, when he releases the ball, go away from the left-hander.

“That is why Abhishek has been very successful against Jofra Archer in the past. I still believe that even at the Wankhede, he will look to give himself a little bit of room, try to go over point or over cover, and score as many runs as possible on the off side,” said Pujara on JioHotstar.

Archer’s new-ball exploits have been a defining feature of England’s campaign so far, with the pacer claiming 10 wickets in the tournament, eight of which have come in the powerplay. But his match-up against Samson, who’s coming on the back of hitting an unforgettable 97 against the West Indies, could prove to be pivotal.

Archer has dismissed Samson three times in five innings, at an average of just 8.3, by using the short ball to great effect. “Jofra will continue bowling the short stuff. Throughout this World Cup, we have seen that the majority of his wickets against right-handers have come from back-of-a-length deliveries, around eight metres or even shorter than that. He will continue doing that against Sanju Samson as well.

“Normally, Samson stands on the leg stump. Now, against Jofra, how do you score runs? One option is to create a little more room, try to move outside the leg stump, and as he is about to deliver, shift slightly to create room and play on the off side. Another option for Sanju is to initially focus on rotating the strike and give as many deliveries as possible to Abhishek, because someone like him will look to take on Jofra Archer,” added Pujara.

--IANS

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