India Vs England, T20 World Cup 2026: Cheteshwar Pujara Suggests Technical Changes In Abhishek Sharma's Stance

India lock horns against England in the second semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 in Mumbai as the hosts aim to qualify for their second successive final of the tournament. The winner of the second semi-final will take on New Zealand in the final, who defeated South Africa by nine wickets in the first semi-final match on Wednesday.

The Men In Blue will go in the game as slight favourites but England, under Harry Brook's leadership, have peaked at the right time and could pose a threat. These two countries have faced each other 29 times in the T20I arena, with India winning 17 games to England's 12.

Ahead of the all-important semi-final match, former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara has suggested some technical changes to opener Abhishek Sharma. The left-handed batter has not been in the best of form in this tournament managing to score a fifty (55) against Zimbabwe in their Super 8 match.

Speaking on JioHotstar’s ‘Game Plan’, Cheteshwar Pujara offered changes to Abhishek's batting stance.

“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.

Pujara was of the opinion that Abhishek will look to make room against England's Jofra Archer and has been successful against the fast bowler in the past.

"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," Pujara added.

Speaking of the Wankhede strip that will be used for the IND vs ENG semi-final clash, reports suggested that the curators have left a bit of green grass on the track, rising further speculations of faster bowlers coming into play.

The Wankhede Stadium has hosted 20 T20I matches with 10 wins going in favour of sides batting first and as many for sides chasing under the lights.

IND vs ENG, T20 World Cup 2026: Squads

India Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh.

England Squad: Harry Brook (c), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Tom Banton, Jacob Bethell, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Adil Rashid, Philip Salt, Josh Tongue, Luke Wood.