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Sanju Samson credits Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma after his 97* vs West Indies in T20 World Cup 2026; Know why

Vikas Singh Derek has a Master's in Journalism and has written more than 50,000 articles. He currently works as a cricket content writer at Khel Now.
Published at :March 2, 2026 at 7:03 AM
Modified at :March 2, 2026 at 7:03 AM
Sanju Samson

(Courtesy : Getty Images)

Sanju Samson scored an unbeaten 97 runs to drive India to victory by five wickets against West Indies.

India outplayed West Indies by five wickets in their last match of the Super 8 round in the T20 World Cup 2026 on Sunday (March 1). It was a must-win game for India and with this victory, the Men-in-Blue grabbed their place in the semi-finals of the tournament.

West Indies batted first and piled up a gigantic total of 195/4 on account of a collective batting effort. They dominated from the start but India made a decent comeback to restrict them under the 200-run mark.

Chasing 196 runs, Sanju Samson played a match-winning knock to lead the Men in Blue to victory by five wickets. After India lost opener Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan early for 10 runs each, Samson kept the winning hopes alive and batted with patience at one end.

Hitting 12 fours and four sixes, he scored an unbeaten 97 runs off 50 deliveries. The right-handed batsman remained unbeaten till the final over and scored a six and a boundary to seal the deal for India. During the course of his marvellous innings, he broke Virat Kohli’s record for the highest score by an Indian batter during a run-chase in the T20 World Cup’s history, surpassing Kohli’s 82* against Pakistan in 2022 edition.

Sanju Samson credits Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after his heroics in IND vs WI

IND vs WI: Sanju Samson becomes first to THIS incredible feat in T20 World Cup; Know here
Sanju Samson of India (Photo by Nikhil Patil/Getty Images)

Samson was awarded Player of the match for his magnificent performance. In the post-match presentation, the right-handed batsman recalled legends Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, stating that he utilised their learnings while batting.

“I think playing IPL around 10 to 12 years and playing for the country from last 10 years, I have not been playing, but looking from the dugout, learning from the greats like Virat Kohli, from Rohit Sharma, like all the greats,” Samson said.

“I think it’s very important to observe and learn and see what they were doing. I think that really helped me to, I think with my experience, I have only played maybe 50, 60 games, but I’ve seen around 100 games and I’ve seen how the greatest people have finished the games and how do they change their game according to the game,” he added.

Samson also added that it was one of the greatest moments of his life and he trusted himself to react according to the situation while batting.

“I think this is one of the greatest days of my life. Yeah, definitely they do bring a lot of energy and they do bring a lot of support. But I think on the other end, there is always a question, what if not?

So definitely that keeps on playing in your mind. But when that thought kept on coming, I just brought myself into the present moment and just looked at the ball and trusted myself to react according to the ball in merit. So I think that worked out pretty well today,” he added.

Interestingly, Samson was promoted as an opener in the previous game against Zimbabwe after replacing Rinku Singh in the playing XI. Earlier, India opted with Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan as openers. However, they changed the opening pair as the duo failed to provide consistent starts to the batting.

How many runs did Sanju Samson score in India vs West Indies match?

Sanju Samson scored an unbeaten 97 runs in IND vs WI match.

Who was Player of the Match in India vs West Indies clash?

Sanju Samson was awarded Player of the Match in India vs West Indies match of T20 World Cup 2026.

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Vikas Singh Derek
Vikas Singh Derek

Vikas Singh Derek is a core cricket-lover since childhood and has always followed the sport both in his personal and professional life. He started his school life by watching cricket at home with family. Later, he played cricket on the field at local clubs during college. After his Master's in Journalism from Mumbai, he followed his passion by covering cricket news across various digital media. Since 2015, he has been an aspiring sports journalist and cricket content writer with over 50K+ articles.