Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has praised Sanju Samson’s performance in the T20 World Cup. Akhtar said that Gautam Gambhir brought Sanju into the team after fighting with the management and India is now getting the benefit from it.
Islamabad: Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar believes that the credit for Sanju Samson’s brilliant performance in the T20 World Cup goes to Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir. Akhtar said that Gambhir fought with the management to include Samson in the team and India is now getting the results of it.
Akhtar, popularly known as Rawalpindi Express, said, “Sanju has been in the Indian cricket circuit since 2014. Even when I was in India in 2015, there was a lot of discussion about him. Due to the presence of wicketkeepers like MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik, Sanju had to wait a long time for his opportunities. Even now, Gambhir fought with everyone and got Sanju a place in the team. He did not get a chance in the beginning of the tournament. After rigorous investigation, in a way it was a forced selection.
Sanju is breaking records
Sanju, who scored 97 runs against West Indies in the important match of Super-8, played a big role in taking India to the final by scoring 89 runs in 42 balls against England in the semi-final. Sanju’s performance in this tournament has been excellent so far. He has scored 232 runs in 4 matches. His average is 77.33 and strike rate is 201.73.
made this record
With his inning of 89 against England, Sanju equaled Virat Kohli’s record of the highest score by an Indian in a T20 World Cup knockout match. Kohli had scored 89* against West Indies in 2016. Apart from this, by hitting 16 sixes in this World Cup, Sanju has also become the Indian player to hit the most sixes in a T20 World Cup edition. He broke the record of Rohit Sharma (15 sixes in 2024).