Sanju Samson faces New Zealand bowlers Henry, Santner and Ferguson in the World Cup final. Earlier they had overpowered him, but now Sanju’s confidence has increased. Only this battle can decide the outcome of the match.
T20 World Cup Final Special: Will he be able to single-handedly handle this dream team? You can look to the Gardens of Eden for the answer. Will he crumble under pressure and against a stronger team? The audience of Wankhede will answer this. But nothing is finished yet. One account is still pending. New Zealand, Matt Henry, Mitchell Santner. Date 31 January 2026. A fast ball from Lockie Ferguson had spread silence in the entire stadium at the Greenfield Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram. The last chance to get everything back was also lost. Sanju Samson was returning to the side of the field after handing over all his responsibility to Ishan Kishan. The Kiwi team had broken Sanju’s World Cup dreams by winning that series.
Sanju’s scores in that series were- 10, 6, 0, 24, and 6. He was out only twice to Matt Henry. Bowled on Santner’s ball. Kyle Jamieson and Ferguson also sent him to the pavilion once each. After scoring only 46 runs in five matches, Sanju’s World Cup preparations ended and he was forced to sit in the dugout.
But, the Sanju who will be wearing pads in the final in Ahmedabad is not the one who was easily defeated by New Zealand. He has the confidence to single-handedly defeat two-time champions West Indies and England. There will not be even a hint of pressure in his expression in Ahmedabad, because he has come back after recovering from the biggest failure of his career.
Therefore, if New Zealand wants to keep their title hopes alive, they will have to first dismiss Sanju, not Abhishek, Ishan or Surya. Santner would know this very well. The Kiwi team may also be exploring its possibilities. The first battle in this is Henry vs Sanju.
In his career, Sanju has played only 10 Henry balls and scored 15 runs. But he has also been out twice. Both the times when Matt Henry took the wicket, Sanju was opening for India. This Kiwi pacer did not allow Sanju to play even the first over. In Raipur, Matt Henry won on the fifth ball and in Guwahati, he won on the very first ball. But Sanju did not change his attacking style even against Henry. Of the 15 runs scored, 14 came from boundaries, which included one six and two fours.
After Henry, captain Santner has the best record against Sanju in the New Zealand team. Sanju Santner has been able to play only three balls in the International T20, in which he was clean bowled and could score only one run. Sanju’s strike rate against Santner in IPL is only 14.3. There also Santner has dismissed him twice in 7 balls. Therefore, Santner will not hesitate to bowl the first over to Sanju.
A similar story is against Lockie Ferguson also. Ferguson and Sanju have faced each other only once in International T20, in Thiruvananthapuram. The entire cricket world saw what happened that day. Cricket experts often say that Sanju finds it a bit difficult to play very fast balls, and Ferguson is an example of this.
In IPL, Sanju has been able to score only 17 runs on 18 balls from Ferguson. This includes two fours and he has also been out once. So Henry-Santner-Ferguson vs Sanju, this will be one of the most important battles of the match. But this time it will not be easy for this trio to control Sanju. If you don’t believe then ask Joffra Archer.
Archer had dominance over Sanju before the semi-final against England. Archer had dismissed Sanju thrice for just 25 runs in 23 balls, that too in the same series. But in Wankhede, the balls coming from Sanju’s bat were continuously going beyond the boundary. By the end of the Indian innings, Sanju had scored 38 runs against Archer in just 14 balls, which included four sixes and three fours. In this World Cup, Sanju is moving forward defying all the old statistics. If they repeat it in the final too, a lot of history will be rewritten.