MUMBAI: Harry Brook tried to laugh it off as he stood with his hands on his knees. Jofra Archer turned back dejected as he walked towards his mark and Sanju Samson heaved a sigh of relief as he marked his guard.

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It was a pivotal moment of the match in the third over, the second bowled by Archer, when the right-arm pacer got Samson to mistime a drive straight to Brook at mid-on. The England captain, though, ended up spilling a dolly. Samson, who was 15 off seven balls at that point, went on to add another 74 off 35 after that in a breathtaking assault on the England bowlers.

England had an opportunity to reduce India to 24/2 and tighten their grip on the match. Instead, they were left ruing things as the Kerala cricketer went on a rampage, scoring an entertaining 42-ball 89 that was built on the back of eight fours and seven sixes, to help India post 253/7. Samson’s knock was the joint-third highest score in a T20 World Cup match, alongside Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 89 against West Indies in the 2016 edition at the same venue.

ALSO READ: I made a big mistake dropping Sanju Samson, says Harry Brook

With every Samson boundary, Brook got more and more worried. As Samson cut, pulled, and drove everything that was bowled at him, Brook would have felt like Herschelle Gibbs, who dropped Steve Waugh during the 1999 World Cup.

Everyone was looking forward to the Archer vs Samson matchup, especially with the Englishman dominating the Indian opener during the T20I series at the start of last year. Samson struggled against Archer’s pace and short-pitched stuff, scored only 25 runs off the 23 balls he faced, and was dismissed three times.

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To add to his woes, an Archer rocket fractured Samson’s right index finger in the last T20I of that series at this very venue, which sidelined him for a month.

On Thursday, Samson took guard against Archer, but unlike the 2025 T20I series, where his confidence plummeted with every low-scoring outing, he entered the semifinal on the back of a matchwinning 97 against West Indies. He hoicked Archer’s third for a boundary over mid-on and then deposited a misdirected short ball over deep fine leg for a six.

In the third over, the 31-year-old’s heart would have been in his mouth as he watched his drive sailing straight to Brook but once he saw it spooned, he quickly regathered his thoughts and, two balls later, pulled his nemesis for six over cow corner.

Archer returned in the 13th over but Samson deposited two of the three balls he faced over the boundary. In total, Samson faced 14 balls from Archer and took 38 runs off him.