India reached the T20 World Cup 2026 final, beating England by 7 runs. Player of the Match Sanju Samson, who hit 89, offered support to his struggling opening partner Abhishek Sharma, saying the ‘whole team is with him’.
India entered the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 after defeating England by seven runs in the semi-final held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday, and the Player of the Match, Sanju Samson, made sure to cheer up the struggling batter Abhishek Sharma.
With 89 runs in seven innings in this tournament, including a half-century against Zimbabwe, Abhishek Sharma is struggling to find rhythm with the bat and his opening partner, Samson, said ‘the whole team is with him’.
‘We are taking care of all our players’
Speaking to the media during a post-match press conference, Samson said, “We are taking care of all our players. We have a really great environment in the dressing room. Both of our leaders, Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav, have a lot of faith and confidence in Abhishek. We try to help him in the way he actually requires.”
Samson’s heroics power India
Sanju Samson played a big knock of 89 runs off just 42 balls with the help of eight fours and seven sixes, which helped India post a big total of 253 runs, while batting first in the do-or-die clash.
Abhishek made just nine runs off seven balls against England in the semi-final match before losing his wicket with a soft dismissal off Will Jacks in the second over of India’s batting.
“I think he has definitely gone through lots of ups and downs in his career. So he’s also trying to find a way out, and we all are with him. And I think it’s just a matter of a couple of hits in the middle, and everything can change in this format. I think we still believe in him, and we feel that I think finally it’s going to be his day. I think I kind of feel that he’s definitely going to come really great on the last day,” said Samson.
England’s valiant chase falls short
In response, Jacob Bethell’s maiden T20I ton kept England alive in the game for most of the time, but the Three Lions failed to reach the total by seven runs. Hardik Pandya took two wickets, whereas Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Chakaravarthy and Patel took one wicket each.
Now, India will face New Zealand in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
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