NEW DELHI: When Sanju Samson walked out to open midway through the tournament, few could have predicted that he would end up scripting one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the history of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. But for India legend Anil Kumble, Samson’s performances in the knockout stages reflected a rare blend of two of India’s greatest modern batsmen – Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!After spending the first half of the tournament on the bench, Samson was drafted into the eleven as an opener ahead of the deciding Super 8 match against the West Indies. The Kerala batsman responded with an unbeaten 97 in what was virtually a virtual knockout in Kolkata, before boosting India’s 89 in the semi-final and final.
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Samson’s explosive streak broke several records, including the highest individual score in a T20 World Cup final. He also joined Kohli as the only Indian to score fifties in both the semi-final and final of the same edition of the World Cup, finishing with a staggering 321 runs in just five innings – the most by an Indian in a single edition of the tournament.
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For Kumble, the numbers told only part of the story.“If you look at the previous World Cup in 2024, they had Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Both are great players, it’s hard to replace them,” Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo. “I think Samson is a combination of Kohli and Rohit in a sense.READ ALSO: ‘Stop celebrating milestones’: Gambhir’s powerful message after India’s World T20 triumphKumble explained that Samson showed Kohli’s calculated control when the situation called for patience, while unleashing Rohit’s aggression when the momentum needed to be changed.“When it required a bit of Kohli where you just plan and make sure you don’t lose wickets,” he said. “And then, whenever you need to step up in the power-play, you want to take on bowlers – like Rohit.Even when anchoring the innings, Samson did not compromise on his natural flair. As India became the first team to smash 100 sixes in a single edition of the World Cup, Samson was responsible for 24 – the most by any batsman in the tournament.
