Pakistan Salute Sanju Samson After Heroic Knock vs West Indies In T20 World Cup: "Bit Of Virat Kohli"

Sanju Samson is the toast of India after taking the side into the T20 World Cup semi-finals with a superlative 97* against West Indies on Sunday. From Sunil Gavaskar to Ravi Shastri, every Indian cricket expert applauded the maturity shown by Samson in leading a challenging 196-run chase against the two-time former champions. After not making it to the playing XI in most of the group-stage matches, Samson made full use of the opportunity on offer.

Not just in India, Samson has found admirers in Pakistan too.

"You could see a bit of Virat Kohli in his batting - how he picks runs off different bowlers - and he's got power too," former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali said on his YouTube channel.

"Sanju was given a clear plan, and even during the powerplay, he was the one scoring the most. The way Sanju batted, I was making a lot of mental notes thinking, 'Man, this guy's a chase master.' We usually say that about Virat Kohli, but today, Kohli wasn't even in the match.

"What I saw in Sanju was that he was calculating exactly which bowler to target and when - when to shift gears while batting, when to go full turbo in certain areas. He did both perfectly."

The fact that Abhishek Sharma (10) and Ishan Kishan (10) could not strike big made Samson's knock even more important.

"That innings you played is worth around 97 or 125 runs. And you played that innings right when both our power hitters - who take advantage of the powerplay - Abhishek and Ishan Kishan, both left-handers, were out. After that, the way you played didn't let us feel their absence at all," Ali added.

Mohammad Hafeez, former Pakistan captain, said Samson's innings showed the importance of a team game.

"Sanju never really tried or made an effort to reach a personal milestone. He wasn't thinking, 'For me, 100 is everything.' For him, winning the game was everything," Hafeez said on Tapmad.

"If you look at teams or players who are intellectually honest, those are the ones improving. None of the other players switched their cause for their own. No one thought, 'Let me try to stand out somehow and outshine Sanju Samson.' It's about thinking as a team, not as one, two, or five individuals - as a whole team thinking for a cause. And that cause is to win the game for your country."

"At first he was aggressive. Then, maybe he got a message or decided to anchor the innings, so he changed his approach and adjusted his game. The way he played, you never saw any greed in him to get runs or reach some personal milestone - because the biggest milestone for a player is to win the match for their country."

India next play England in the second T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final on Thursday

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team West Indies Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team Sanju Samson T20 World Cup 2026 Cricket