3 min learnUp to date: Mar 9, 2026 09:22 AM IST
India spin legend Anil Kumble hailed Sanju Samson’s T20 World Cup turnaround, insisting that the wicketkeeper-batter introduced India the tactical presence of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the course of the knockout matches up to now week.
After spending the primary half of the match on the bench, Samson was roped again in to open the batting. The Kerala batter made a sensational streak with three successive fifties, beginning with India’s digital knock-out Tremendous 8 match towards the West Indies in Kolkata. Scoring an unbeaten 97, Samson went onto headline the semi-final with a 89-run knock earlier than producing the identical figures within the finals. Samson thereby shattered a number of data, together with the best particular person rating by a participant within the last of a T20 World Cup.
Samson’s mature strokeplay meant he additionally joined Kohli as solely the Indians to attain a fifty in each the semi-finals and finals of a World Cup version, additionally surpassing the previous India captain for many runs in a single version for India, registering 321 runs in solely 5 innings.
“When you take a look at the earlier World Cup in 2024, it had Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Each are nice gamers, very tough to exchange them. I feel Samson is a mix of Kohli and Rohit, in a way. When it required a bit little bit of Kohli, the place you simply plan and make sure that you don’t lose wickets. After which at any time when you’ll want to speed up, within the powerplay, you wish to tackle the bowlers [like Rohit],” Kumble mentioned on ESPNcricinfo.
Whereas he introduced consistency to the fore, Samson didn’t relinquish his big-hitting prowess. As India turned the primary staff to smash 100 sixes in a World Cup version, Samson accounted for 1 / 4 of them, crunching 24 maximums, the best ever by a batter in a World Cup collection.
Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis additionally lauded Samson’s gameplan on his strategy to being named the Participant of the Event.
“What you’ll be able to see is a man that’s in kind and actually true to the best way that he desires to play. It appears to be like like I’m watching the earlier innings once more. It’s simply the sport plan on show,” remarked du Plessis.
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“You’ll be able to see how clear he’s in what’s his strengths and the areas the place he doesn’t wish to rating. His tempo is so stunning. It doesn’t really feel like he’s making an attempt to overhit the ball.”