Sanju Samson, who did not start India's ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, is now having a tournament to remember. The right-handed batter from Kerala is making it count when it matters the most, having already registered scores of 97 not out against the West Indies and 89 against England in the semi-final. The 31-year-old did not start in the XI in the group stages, as his form had tapered off in the previous series against New Zealand, and he played only against Namibia in New Delhi after Abhishek Sharma was sidelined due to a stomach infection.
He then made his way into the playing XI in the Super 8s as off-spinners started to trouble Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan. To break the rhythm of the play, the management brought Samson back into the mix, and the batter hasn't looked back since then. Samson has scored runs for fun, and his form has been so incredible that he has made it to the nominations list for the Player of the Tournament accolade.
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Samson is the only Indian to make it to the shortlist. The other nominations are England's Will Jacks, Pakistan's Sahibzada Farhan, South Africa's Lungi Ngidi and Aiden Markram, New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra and Tim Seifert, and USA's Shadley van Schalkwyk.
The ICC unveiled the shortlist shortly after India's narrow seven-run win over England in the T20 World Cup second semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, where the Men in Blue came out on top by seven runs.
{{/usCountry}}The ICC unveiled the shortlist shortly after India's narrow seven-run win over England in the T20 World Cup second semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, where the Men in Blue came out on top by seven runs.
{{/usCountry}}In the semi-final, Samson was dropped on 15 by England captain Harry Brook, and he did not look back from there, hammering 89 runs off 42 balls, with seven sixes. He has already broken Rohit Sharma's record of most sixes (15) by an Indian in a single edition of the T20 World Cup, totalling 16 maximums.
With a haul of 232 runs, Samson is India's third-highest run-scorer in the T20 World Cup 2026, only behind Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav.
Samson two POTM accolades
Samson has won the Player of the Match accolade for two games in a row - against the West Indies and then against England. However, after the win against the Three Lions, Samson stated that the award should have been won by Jasprit Bumrah after he gave away just 33 runs in four overs in a game where almost 500 runs were scored.
“All credit goes to Jasprit Bumrah, the world-class bowler, once in a generation bowler. I think that's what he delivered today. This (award) should go to him, actually. If we didn't bowl that way in the death overs, I think I would not be standing here,” Samson said after winning the award.
With the win in the semi-final, India progressed to the summit clash, where Suryakumar Yadav's team will clash against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, March 8.