IND vs NZ T20 World Cup 2026 Final: India's star opener Sanju Samson is seen in action during the summit clash of the ongoing mega event. In the ongoing match, which is being held at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad against New Zealand, Samson began his innings by smashing a six on the fifth ball of the first over. When he scored his first run in this match, he achieved the milestone of scoring 1000 runs in the shortest format as an Indian wicketkeeper batter.
Hailing from Kerala, Sanju has become the second wicket-keeper batter besides MS Dhoni to have smashed 1000 runs in this format. Dhoni, who represented India in 98 T20Is between 2006 and 2019, scored 1617 runs across 85 innings. At the same time, Samson had scored 1000 runs after playing in his 45th match. He has scored 1316 runs after playing in 62 T20I matches.
Among Indian wicketkeeper-batters in T20Is, Dhoni and Samson lead the list. Rishabh Pant (996) and Ishan Kishan (545) are also among the top run-scorers in this category.
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Most runs for India in T20Is as designated wicketkeeper-batter
| PLAYER | MATCHES | INNINGS | RUNS | BEST SCORE | AVERAGE | STRIKE RATE | 100/50 |
| MS Dhoni | 98 | 85 | 1617 | 56 | 37.60 | 126.13 | 0/2 |
| Sanju Samson | 45* | 38* | 1005* | 111 | 30.27 | 160.35 | 3/4 |
| Rishabh Pant | 64 | 54 | 996 | 65* | 23.71 | 129.01 | 0/2 |
| Ishan Kishan | 21 | 21 | 545 | 89 | 27.25 | 137.62 | 0/5 |
| KL Rahul | 8 | 8 | 305 | 57* | 43.57 | 139.26 | 0/3 |
Jos Buttler of England holds the record for most T20I runs as a wicketkeeper-batter, with 3592 runs in 127 matches.
Most runs in T20Is as designated wicketkeeper-batters
| PLAYER | COUNTRY | MATCHES | INNINGS | RUNS |
| Jos Buttler | England | 127 | 120 | 3592 |
| Quinton de Kock | South Africa | 109 | 108 | 3082 |
| Mohammad Rizwan | Pakistan | 91 | 80 | 3053 |
| Kusal Mendis | Sri Lanka | 76 | 76 | 2067 |
| Mohammad Shahzad | Afghanistan | 72 | 72 | 2030 |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | Afghanistan | 73 | 73 | 2006 |
| Nicholas Pooran | West Indies | 80 | 72 | 1790 |
| Tim Seifert | New Zealand | 78 | 72 | 1697 |
| MS Dhoni | India | 98 | 85 | 1617 |
| Lorcan Tucker | Ireland | 77 | 73 | 1491 |
Quinton de Kock (South Africa) and Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan) are the only other wicketkeeper-batters with over 3000 T20I runs.
Samson hit his 17th six of the tournament in Henry's over. Four more sixes would take his tally to 21 for this event. Finn Allen of New Zealand holds the record for most sixes in a single edition.
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Allen has hit 20 sixes in eight matches of this tournament.