Sunil Gavaskar compared Sanju Samson to the greats Viv Richards and Mahela Jayawardene after Kerala’s Player of the Tournament performance in the T20 World Cup and said his batting brought a rare purity to the shortest format of the game.
In his column for Sportstar, Gavaskar noted that classic batting is rarely seen in T20 cricket.
“Cleanliness of batting is generally a virtue in the longest format of the game, Test match cricket, and occasionally in the 50-over game, but rarely in the ultra-short format of the game,” he wrote.
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“Samson provided it in all three of his fifty-plus innings playing classic cricket shots, along with some of the most majestic pulling and hooking we have seen in recent times.”
Gavaskar was particularly impressed by Samson’s handling of the short ball. His stroke against Jofra Archer’s pace, he noted, “reminiscent of Viv Richards at his best”, while the overall fluidity of his game has drawn comparisons with Sri Lankan great Mahela Jayawardene.
THREE INNINGS THAT WON THE TOURNAMENT
Samson’s campaign was built on three bout-defining strikes. An unbeaten 97 against West Indies kept India’s Super 8 campaign alive during a steep chase of 196. He followed it up with a superb 89 against England in the semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium, helping India post 253.
In the final against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Samson top scored with 89 off 46 ballswhich laid the platform for India’s record 255, a target New Zealand never threatened.
His path to these shifts was far from straightforward. Samson started the tournament on the bench, recalled only after injury and tactical changes forced India. He took advantage of every opportunity and finished as the best batsman of the tournament.
GAVASKARA’S FINAL WORD
Gavaskar concluded his column with a message for the team. “Well done India,” he wrote. “Not only did you repeat and defeat history, but you also created a new history that will forever be loved by those who were lucky enough to witness it.”
For Samson, the accolade from one of India’s greatest batsmen represents a remarkable turnaround and ends a tournament in which he hardly played as an outstanding player.
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Issued by:
Amar Panicker
Published on:
10 March 2026 15:26 IST
