Former India player Aakash Chopra has lauded Sanju Samson for his consistent performances in the business end of the T20 World Cup 2026. He noted that the wicketkeeper-batter struck half-centuries in the semi-final and the final after doing so in a virtual quarterfinal, a feat no one else has achieved.

Samson scored 89 runs off 46 balls as India set New Zealand a 256-run target in the T20 World Cup 2026 final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, March 8. The Men in Blue then bowled the Black Caps out for 159 to register a resounding 96-run win.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ the former India opener praised Samson for finishing as the country’s highest run-scorer in the T20 World Cup 2026, despite missing four games, and surpassing Shahid Afridi and Virat Kohli by scoring three consecutive fifties in knockout games for his side.

“Chetta needs to be spoken about because he is the highest run-scorer for Team India. You are the highest run-scorer when you haven’t played four matches. You know the story today, so you still appreciate it, but if you think about it after 10 or 20 years, that a guy wasn’t played four of the nine matches, and he became the highest run-scorer of the team, you would say what a guy he would have been,” Chopra said.

“89, two identical scores. Three back-to-back fifties. No one has done that – scoring three back-to-back fifties in the quarterfinal, semi-final, and final. There were only two players who made fifties in the semi-final and final – Shahid Afridi and Virat Kohli, but he has gone ahead of them as well. The third wasn’t a quarterfinal, but it was a quarterfinal. Player of the Tournament, the guy who did not play four matches,” he added.

Sanju Samson amassed 321 runs at a strike rate of 199.37 in five innings in the T20 World Cup 2026. He scored an unbeaten 97 off 50 deliveries in the last Super Eight game against the West Indies and a 42-ball 89 in the semi-final against England before his 89-run knock in the final.

“It didn’t seem like he was having any difficulties” – Aakash Chopra on Sanju Samson’s approach in T20 World Cup 2026

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that Sanju Samson wasn’t in any discomfort in his last three innings and allowed Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan to bat aggressively in the T20 World Cup 2026 final.

“In every innings, it didn’t seem like he was having any difficulties. The maturity was visible in the way he was settling the game. He told Abhishek Sharma to continue hitting as he would stand at the other end. He told Ishan Kishan to hit and that he would manage. He was taking singles,” he said.

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Samson was judicious in his shot selection in the last three games.

“The first 25 balls I saw against the West Indies, he hit in the air, but didn’t do that at all after that, because he had to stay till the end. When we came to Wankhede, he was hitting more down the ground because he wanted to be consistent. The same is the story here. He was waiting for the ball and picking his areas. He again batted deep into the innings,” Chopra elaborated.

Sanju Samson struck five fours and eight sixes during his 89-run knock in the T20 World Cup 2026 final. He added 98 runs for the first wicket with Abhishek Sharma (52 off 21) and 105 runs for the second wicket with Ishan Kishan (54 off 25), virtually batting New Zealand out of the game.