‘Sanju Samson is a combination of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’: Anil Kumble after T20 World Cup masterclass

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 ICC Mens T20 World Cup history. But for India spin legend Anil Kumble, Samson’s performances in the knockout stages reflected a rare blend of two of India’s greatest modern batters — Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

After spending the first half of the tournament on the bench, Samson was drafted into the XI as an opener ahead of the decisive Super 8 clash against the West Indies. The Kerala batter responded with an unbeaten 97 in what was effectively a virtual knockout in Kolkata, before producing back-to-back 89s in the semi-final and the final to power India’s title-winning run.

The explosive streak saw Samson break several records, including the highest individual score in a T20 World Cup final. He also joined Kohli as the only Indians to score fifties in both the semi-final and final of the same World Cup edition, while finishing with a staggering 321 runs in just five innings — the most by an Indian in a single edition of the tournament.

For Kumble, the numbers told only part of the story.

“If you look at the previous World Cup in 2024, it had Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Both are great players, very difficult to replace them,” Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo. “I think Samson is a combination of Kohli and Rohit, in a sense.”

Kumble explained that Samson displayed Kohli’s calculated control when the situation demanded patience, while also unleashing Rohit-like aggression when the momentum needed to shift.

“When it required a little bit of Kohli, where you just plan and ensure that you don’t lose wickets,” he said. “And then whenever you need to accelerate in the powerplay, you want to take on the bowlers — like Rohit.”

Even while anchoring the innings, Samson did not compromise on his natural flair. As India became the first team to smash 100 sixes in a single World Cup edition, Samson accounted for 24 of them — the most by any batter in the tournament.

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