Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma run between the wickets during the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 cricket match between India and Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. (PTI photo) Sanju Samson dropped to his knees and looked up to the sky in gratitude and relief, perhaps thanking the cricketing gods at Kolkata’s ‘Garden of Eden’ after leading India to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup with a five-wicket win over the West Indies in a virtual quarter-final for both teams.India captain Suryakumar Yadav took off his cap in honor of Sanju after the right-handed batsman hit a career-defining unbeaten 97 off 50 balls on Sunday.While Sanju’s 97 in Kolkata will be remembered, his short-lived but significant innings against Zimbabwe three days earlier had given India’s T20 World Cup campaign a boost.In the five matches before Sanju returned to the playing XI against Zimbabwe, India had won four, but there were clear concerns in the batting and everyone could see it.
A problem of the highest order
India played without Samson in four of those five matches and their highest opening partnership in those games was 8 runs. In the only match Sanju played, against Namibia (when Abhishek was out due to illness), Samson and Ishan Kishan had an opening stand of 25 runs in 12 balls.Apart from Ishan’s knocks against Pakistan (77 for 40) and Namibia (61 for 24), the Indian back four, including Surya and Tilak Varma, faced a strike-rate problem in those matches as shown in the table below.
Strike rate of Indian top order batsmen in first 5 matches of T20 World Cup
USANamibaPakistanNetherlandsSouth AfricaIshan Kishan125254,16192,5257,140Sanju SamsonDNP275DNPDNPDNPAbhishek Sharma0DNP00125Tilak Varma156.25119.04104.16114.8150Suryakumar Yadav171.4292.3110.34121.4281.81Openers not getting off to a good start and a middle order struggling to score quickly was a double whammy for defending champions India. This was largely due to the Indian batsmen struggling against off-spin in the tournament.With six left-handers in the top eight, India essentially invited themselves to be attacked by off-spinners. And the opposition Erasmus, Aghas, Ayubs and Dutts obliged.During the group stage, India faced more off-spin than any other team – 102 deliveries. Among the 13 teams that faced at least six runs per over, only Nepal (5.25) and Oman (5.42) recorded a slower rate than India’s 6.23 runs per over.India’s off-spin bowling woes were first exposed by Gerhard Erasmus when the Namibian captain took four wickets, three of them left-handed, in the group stage match. Pakistan took the cue and their captain Salman Ali Agha, a part-time off-spinner, took the new ball and dismissed Indian opener Abhishek Sharma, who was caught at mid-on for a duck. The trend continued in India’s final group stage match against the Netherlands when off-spinner Aryan Dutt got the nod. He first dropped Abhishek Sharma for another duck, his third in as many matches in the tournament till then, before sending his partner Ishan Kishan back to the dugout in the fifth over. It is worth noting that Abhishek has not shown vulnerability to off-spin before; in fact, he has a career strike rate of 171.1 against off-spinners in the powerplay in T20Is. However, given the slow nature of the pitches in the tournament compared to the IPL and T20 bilaterals that India have played at home in the last two years, he seemed out of his comfort zone against them, falling out of the spin twice in the three group stage matches.Meanwhile, Abhishek’s opening partner Ishan Kishan is facing problems against the off-spinners. In all T20Is, Kishan has scored against off-spinners at just 76.9 strikes in the first six overs. That hasn’t changed in the T20 World Cup, despite being in form; The southpaw scored at just 115.8 strike rate against off-spin in the powerplay, his lowest against all types of bowling.In comparison, Sanju Samson has a strike rate of 188.2 against off-spinners in the powerplay in T20Is.
“That means you opened Abhishek’s place?”
By the end of the group stage, it was clear that India’s two left-arm openers had an uphill battle against off-spin.It was obvious that South Africa will use their off-spin options if Ishan and Abhishek open the innings for India in their first Super 8 clash. India captain Suryakumar Yadav was asked in the pre-match press conference whether India will try to bring back right-hander Sanju Samson vs. Top-order South Africa to counter off-spin threat? To which he replied, “Matlab Abhishek ki jagah khilau? (Should I play him instead of Abhishek?)”, “matlab Tilak ki jagah khilau? (You mean instead of Tilak?).”Suryakumar Yadav was seen smiling sarcastically while replying to a journalist as if the suggestion was taken out of context.But the story repeated itself as predicted and South Africa captain Aiden Markram himself came to play with the new ball and dismissed opener Ishan Kishan for a duck. India lost the match by 76 runs, leaving them in a do-or-die situation.
How did India’s fortunes change?
India’s next Super 8 match was against Zimbabwe in Chennai and Sanju Samson returned to the playing eleven. He opened the innings with Abhishek and gave India a brisk opening strike of 48 runs. More importantly, with Sanju as India’s spinner, he succeeded in keeping the off-spinner away from the new ball. By the time Sanju was dismissed in the fourth match, India were 48 and Abhishek Sharma was at the wicket. Scoring 24 off 15 balls, Sanju did the job assigned to him brilliantly and was praised by head coach Gautam Gambhir and the support staff following his recall. Sanju’s presence did wonders for India in the match. Opener Abhishek Sharma, who had earlier scored just 15 runs in the tournament, including three ducks, returned to form and scored a half-century. India scored 256 in the first innings and crushed Zimbabwe by 72 runs. India eventually won the tournament convincingly and a campaign that once seemed on the verge of derailment took a turn for the worse. Sanju Samson turned it around with his knock of 15 balls and 24 runs.Against West Indies on Sunday, India chased down their highest ever target (196) in Men’s World T20 history, bettering their previous record of 173 against South Africa in 2014.Sanju Samson’s 97 in a chase was the second highest for India in a Men’s T20 World Cup, behind Suresh Raina’s 101 against South Africa in 2010. It was India’s highest in a chase in a T20 World Cup, bettering Virat Kohli’s 82 not out against Australia in 2016 and Pakistan’s 22 in 2016Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav, who had questioned “kiski jagah khilau?” a few days back, bowed appreciatively to Samson.97 in Calcutta will be remembered. It secured a place in the semi-finals and will sit high among India’s best batsmen in the T20 World Cup. But it was Samson’s 15-ball 24 against Zimbabwe in Chennai that brought India’s T20 World Cup campaign to life and now they look like the formidable side they are heading into the semi-finals.
