India’s coach Gautam Gambhir says a “special effort” is needed to beat a confident England side in the T20 World Cup semi-final in Mumbai.

HEAD COACH Gautam Gambhir hailed Sanju Samson for keeping India’s T20 World Cup hopes alive but said it would take a “special effort” to beat England in the semi-final.

Samson’s unbeaten 97 from 50 balls powered India to a five-wicket victory over the West Indies in a winner-takes-all Super Eights clash. The defending champions chased down 196 in front of 67,000 fans at Eden Gardens on Sunday.

“We all know how good a player Sanju is,” Gambhir told a post-match news conference. “It was all about backing him and when the team needed him the most.”

Samson, who had played only one group stage game before the Super Eights, struck 12 fours and four sixes in his match-winning knock. Gambhir said the batsman had shown his “full potential” and is a “world-class player”.

India now travel to Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium to face England on Thursday. Harry Brook’s side won all their Super Eight matches and have been improving as the tournament progresses.

“Look, they’re a world-class team, they’re a quality team, they’ve got a lot of quality players as well,” Gambhir told AFP when asked about the semi-final. He noted that England were dangerous and growing in confidence.

The Wankhede stadium will present very different conditions to Kolkata, posing new challenges. “We all know that playing at the Wankhede is a tough game,” Gambhir said.

He stressed that nothing less than 100 percent would be good enough for India to progress to next Sunday’s final in Ahmedabad. “Hopefully we play our best game, that is going to be very important,” he said.

“Because we will need a special effort to beat a quality side like England.”

 The Sun Malaysia