Sanju Samson Credits Sachin Tendulkar For Support During Tough Times After T20 World Cup 2026 Glory

He came, he fought, he conquered – Sanju Samson, take a bow! From struggling to even make it to the playing XI of the Indian cricket team to winning the Player of the Tournament award for the T20 World Cup 2026 — Sanju Samson has come a long way. However, this journey wasn’t an easy one. It was more of downs and then ups. Sanju Samson defeated all odds and became the hero of the World Cup 2026 final.

Sanju Samson Won The Player Of The Tournament After India’s T20 World Cup 2026 Win

After being asked to bat first, Sanju Samson walked out to open the innings for Team India along with Abhishek Sharma and gave a dominating start to the innings. Both the batters took the Kiwi bowlers to the cleaners and set the momentum for the Indian cricket team from the word go.

Sanju Samson continued with his red-hot form in the T20 World Cup 2026 with another stunning knock, scoring 89 runs off 45 balls. During his knock, he smashed the Kiwi bowlers to all the corners of the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. His knock was laced with 5 fours and 8 sixes.

With this, Sanju also etched his name in the record books with his six-hitting this edition. Samson now holds the record for the most sixes in a single edition of a T20 World Cup – 24, surpassing the record of Finn Allen, who had struck 20 sixes in the previous edition.

Apart from this, his score of 89 runs has also gone down as the highest individual score in a T20 World Cup final. He broke the previous record of Marlon Samuels, who scored an unbeaten 85 in 2016, and Kane Williamson, who scored 85 in 2021.

Sanju Samson impressed one and all with his consistency in the marquee tournament. He joined Virat Kohli (2014) and Shahid Afridi (2009) in an elite list of cricketers who scored half-centuries in both semi-final and the final of a T20 World Cup.

Sanju Samson also matched another major record with three consecutive fifty-plus scores in a T20 World Cup. He joins a list of consistent performers that includes Mahela Jayawardene (2010), Virat Kohli (2016–2021), Babar Azam (2021), KL Rahul (2021), and, in this edition, Kusal Mendis and Sahibzada Farhan.

Samson also became the highest-scoring Indian in a single ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, breaking Kohli’s record of 319 runs from 2014. What makes it even more impressive is that Samson played only five matches after not being part of India’s starting XI at the beginning of the tournament.

The keeper-batter’s efforts helped the Indian cricket team to become the champions of the T20 World Cup 2026. For his sensational efforts, Sanju Samson was awarded the Player of the Tournament award. 

Sanju Samson Opens Up on Sachin Tendulkar’s Support

Speaking after winning the Player of the Tournament award, Sanju Samson expressed his emotions and said, “Feels like a dream. Very happy and grateful. Out of words, out of emotions.”

“[On his three fifties, thought process] To be honest, it started one-two years before. When I was in the 2024 World Cup team where I didn’t play, I kept visualising, kept on working and this was exactly what I wanted to do. After the NZ series I was broken, my dreams were completely shattered. And I was thinking what can I do. But God had different plans. And I was rewarded for being brave enough to dream.”

Further, Sanju Samson also revealed that it was Sachin Tendulkar, who guided him through the difficult times. He revealed,  “A lot of former players have reached out to me and tried to help me out. For the last couple of months, I have been in constant contact with Sachin sir. I reached out to him and had big big conversations with him. Getting a guidance from someone like him, what more can you ask for? I am very grateful for everyone who supported me. [What more does he want to achieve?] This itself is very big for me, I want to enjoy it right now and then after a few day will figure out what more to do.”

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