IND vs NZ T20 World Cup 2026 Final: Ex-India spinner R Ashwin wants Sanju Samson to finish his T20 World Cup 2026 during the final against New Zealand in Ahmedabad. The star opener has been in sublime form. He has been adjudged the Player of the Match twice. He scored a match-winning knock of 97 runs during the Super 8s against the West Indies. He then scored 89 runs against England during the semifinal in Mumbai.
Samson was on the verge of scoring a hundred against the Harry Brook-led side during the semifinal. However, he prioritised the team's needs first. As a result, Will Jacks dismissed him.
Ashwin thinks that Samson will smash his first T20 World Cup hundred on Sunday. It will depend on whether he faces the Kiwi fast bowler Matt Henry during his first over.
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"Earlier, I manifested that Samson would finish the World Cup with three centuries. In the first game, he scored 97. Next, he scored 89. Now I think one century would be enough. He did not have a great bilateral series against New Zealand. Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry," Ashwin was quoted as saying during an interaction on his YouTube channel, Ash Ki Baat.
“If Sanju Samson finds answers to Matt Henry just like he found against Jofra Archer, I don't think we can see anybody stopping Sanju. We are in for a grandstand finish, and I wish him to do that,” he said.
Samson didn't have a great start to his stint in the ongoing mega event. He was seen warming up on the bench as the team management selected Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan as the openers. But then Abhishek fell ill due to a stomach infection. Sanju replaced him during the group stage match against Namibia, where he scored 22 runs.
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Abhishek returned to the national side for the high-octane match against arch-rival Pakistan and replaced Samson. But since the two left-handed batters were struggling against off-spinners, Samson returned to the playing XI as the opener. During the Super 8s match against Zimbabwe, he scored just 24 runs off 15 balls. He then bounced back to form in the matches against West Indies and England.
Samson is the third-highest scorer for India
Samson has scored 232 runs in the ongoing mega event so far after playing in four matches. He has become India's third-highest run scorer and is just behind Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav.
He has also been shortlisted for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 Player of the Tournament award and is in contention to win it. England's Will Jacks, Pakistan's Sahibzada Farhan, and South Africa skipper Aiden Markram are the other nominees in this list.