New Delhi: Team India opener Sanju Samson continued his red-hot form in the T20 World Cup 2026 final against New Zealand with his third consecutive half-century in the tournament. After a match-winning 97 and a brilliant 89-run knock in the last two games, Samson hammered a sensational knock of 89 runs against the Kiwis in the much-anticipated summit clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Samson’s 89 is the highest-ever individual score in a T20 World Cup final as the India opener broke former West Indies batter Marlon Samuels’ record. Samson went past Samuels, who scored an unbeaten 85 against England in the final of the 2016 T20 World Cup. Samson also became only the third batter to score a half-century in the semifinal and the final of a T20 World Cup.
The explosive India opener joined former India captain Virat Kohli and former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi in the elite list of batters with a half-century in the final and the semifinal of the same edition of the T20 World Cup. Afridi achieved the rare feat in the 2009 T20 World Cup, while Kohli did it in the 2014 T20 World Cup.
Highest individual score in a T20 World Cup final:
89 – Sanju Samson (v NZ)*
85* – Marlon Samuels (v ENG)
85 – Kane Williamson (v AUS)
78 – Marlon Samuels (v SL)
Fifty in the semifinal and final of a T20 WC edition:
Shahid Afridi in 2009
Virat Kohli in 2014
Sanju Samson in 2026