Sanju Samson lifts India into the last four
Sunday/Monday 12:30 am is a stretch, but the thought of India losing to the West Indies and exiting the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was a tempting consideration. Sadly, I missed the alarm and the chance to jump Mr. Bezos’ paywall.
Australia’s premature exit is forgotten, for now. It would have been incomprehensible to have neither them nor India in the last four. That said, the two teams that progressed to the Super Eights at Australia’s expense failed to win a game, accentuating Australia’s abject performance. An Ashes summer that stretched to 18 playing days clearly fatigued the green and gold machine—oh, and the injuries.
Before this World Cup, it’s worth noting how little credence the Australian hierarchy gave to their T20 domestic competition (BBL15). Eight Australians were in the BBL team of the tournament. Sam Harper (Stars) shared the most votes with Matt Renshaw (Heat) —selected. Marcus Stoinis polled six —selected. No other selected player featured. Of the other five, Aaron Hardie had the strongest case. Steve Smith, with limited starts, was the competition’s standout batter, but wasn’t initially selected, then was, and for the reasons he wasn’t there in the first place, he was left out again. We can revisit this story later.
In retrospect, one wonders what recovery measures would have been taken if India hadn’t chased down the 196 to secure a semi-final place against England in Mumbai. Both teams will know in the previous two tournaments the team who wins this game has gone on to lift the trophy.Fortunately, there’s no need for speculation, India won, and credit where it’s due.
Sanju Samson emerged as India’s unlikely hero after piloting the hosts to a squeaky five-wicket victory. His 97 red from 50 balls with 12 fours and 4 sixes proved the difference. The next highest score was West Indies Roston Chase’s 40 batting in the same position as Samson.
Of course, India’s coach, Gautam Gambhir, disagreed on the ‘unlikely’ reference. He said, “He always knew the wicketkeeper-batter would come good at the right time.” Gambhir is eyeing a political career after his current position expires (could be imminent).
Samson lost his place before the tournament but was recalled after India’s deflating Super 8s loss to a dangerous South Africa. Then, he did what many batters do in T20, found his touch again. The 31-year-old batted through the innings and duly hit the winning runs with four balls remaining.
Earlier, Chase charged the start of the West Indies innings, opening for the first time in T20 internationals. He added 68 from 53 with an overly watchful Shai Hope, and then 34 from 16 with Shimron Hetmyer, who made up for Hope’s sluggish effort. Jason Holder and Rovman Powell rallied late adding 76 from the last six overs. The West Indies 195 might have been enough if it wasn’t for their poor out-cricket—a recurring theme under pressure. Three catches went down and there were numerous fielding errors that undermined their bowling innings. Again, it’s worth saying here that the West Indies ascent in this format looks to be on a faster trajectory than Australia’s.
England, who sit on the third line of betting, finished their Super 8s games Friday and remained in Colombo awaiting confirmation on their game’s location—due to potentially Pakistan being in the last four, they travel to Mumbai to play India, Thursday.
On Wednesday, the first semi-final will see New Zealand (2nd in England’s group) play South Africa (top of India’s group with three wins and a commanding NRR) in Delhi. South Africa beat New Zealand in the qualifying stage and have a 100% win/loss against the Black Caps. But, as the angular British comedian John Cleese said in the now banned Fawlty Towers episode, “The Germans,” “Don’t mention the War” Or in this case, don’t mention South Africa’s “Semi-final curse.”
In my Geelong cricket circle, South Africa are keeping me afloat—we stood out India and England. So Wednesday night will be sink or swim for the two remaining, this time I plan to set a double alarm!
It’s good to be back, and I truly appreciate your patience, as always, thank you for being here.
