Mumbai | Sanju Samson overcame the Jofra Archer challenge through a slice of luck for his second successive fifty, firing India to a mammoth 253 for seven in the T20 World Cup semifinal against England here on Thursday.

After single-handedly taking India to the semifinals, a supremely confident Samson (89 off 42) bludgeoned the England bowling attack including Archer, who had dominated his battle against the Indian opener in last year’s bilateral series.

Having lost the toss at a ground with short boundaries, India had to put up a big total and Samson helped them do that after being dropped by Harry Brook on 15 off Archer in the third over.

England had already removed Abhishek Sharma the over before and a Samson dismissal would have put India under pressure, but Brook dropped a sitter at mid-on, leaving Archer in disbelief.

That was all the luck Samson need to make England pay, hammering seven sixes and eight fours in his sizzling knock.

Dismissed thrice by Archer last year when he did not have the answers for short balls into the body, Samson subdued the England pace spearhead with a flurry of pull shots.

He picked up length quickly and was aided by a wayward Archer who was too short in his opening spell of two overs.

His first maximum off Archer came via a pull over fine leg before the opener dispatched a slower ball off the pacer over deep mid-wicket for another maximum.

Samson shared a 97-run stand off 45 balls with Ishan Kishan (39 off 19) who too picked up the boundaries against an erring England bowling line-up.

India raced to 67 for one in the power play and maintained the onslaught to reach 119 for two in 10 overs.

Shivam Dube (43 off 25) was promoted to number four to maintain the left -right combination after Kishan fell to Rashid.

Samson, at the other end, was equally menacing against the other bowlers including Sam Curran and Jamie Overton.

Archer returned for his second spell only to get hammered by Samson again.

The opener smashed him for a six over backward point before smoking Archer for another maximum over long-off.

Archer ended up leaking 61 runs in four overs as Tilak Varma (21 off 7) added to his forgettable night with three sixes in the 19th over.

England went with the off-spin of Will Jacks in the final over and Hardik Pandya (27 off 12) put him to sword with a couple of sixes.

The last five overs yielded 76 runs, pushing India to an above par total.