AHMEDABAD: India’s right-arm opener Sanju Samson was named man of the tournament on Sunday for his pivotal role in India’s successful ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign.
Samson, who missed three of India’s four group-stage matches against United States of America (USA), arch-rivals Pakistan and the Netherlands, returned to the reigning champions following their gutsy loss to South Africa in the Super Eights.
The right-handed opener made a quiet return to India’s playing XI after scoring 24 in their crucial Super Eight match against Zimbabwe, but in their virtual quarter-final against the West Indies, he scored an unbeaten 97 in a tense run chase.
Samson carried his form into the semi-final against England in Mumbai and the recent summit clash against New Zealand, scoring half-centuries in each of the two high-stakes situations and becoming only the third player to reach the milestone.
His three consecutive fifties helped him finish as the third leading run-getter with 321 runs at a remarkable average of 199.37 in five innings and a strike rate of 199.37.
For his consistent performance in high-stakes situations, Samson beat Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan, South Africa’s Aiden Markram and Lungi Ngidi, England’s Will Jacks, New Zealand’s Racine Ravindra and Tim Seifert and America’s Shadley Van Schalk to win the award.
“It feels like a dream. So happy and grateful. No words, no emotions. To be honest, it started one to two years ago. When I didn’t play in the 2024 World Cup team, I showed up, kept working, this is what I wanted to do,” Samson said in the post-match presentation.
As a result, Samson became the third Indian player to be crowned the T20 World Cup player of the match, joining teammate Jasprit Bumrah, who won the award twice in 2014 and 2016, and country legend Virat Kohli.
The elusive list features Australia’s legendary all-rounder Shane Watson, England’s Kevin Pietersen and Sri Lanka’s Thilakaratna Dilshan, while Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi is the winner of the coveted award.
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