India opener Sanju Samson took the England bowling attack to the cleaners in the second semifinal of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Thursday (March 5).
Invited to bat first, the defending champions lost Abhishek Sharma (9) cheaply. However, Samson launched a brutal counterattack on the English bowlers right from the word go.
The wicketkeeper-batter added 97 runs for the second wicket with Ishan Kishan to put India in the driver’s seat. While Kishan fell after scoring 39 off 18 balls, Samson went on to smash a half-century off just 26 balls.
Sanju continued his carnage and stitched a 43-run partnership with Shivam Dube. He appeared set for a glorious hundred but was dismissed by Will Jacks against the run of play for 89 off 42 balls, including 8 fours and 7 sixes.
Key contributions from Dube (43 off 25), Hardik Pandya (27 off 12) and Tilak Varma (21 off 7) eventually propelled the hosts to a gigantic 253/7 in 20 overs.
For his scintillating knock in the big game, Sanju Samson garnered rich praise from the cricket fraternity on social media.
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