Sanju Samson: Sanju Samson’s storm in Eden Gardens, broke Virat Kohli’s great record, left Rohit behind too

New Delhi. India made it to the semi-finals by defeating West Indies in the last Super 8 match of T20 World Cup 2026. In a do or die match, Team India completed the run chase of 196 runs with four balls remaining, which is also its biggest successful run chase in the history of this tournament. The ground of Eden Gardens, Kolkata witnessed Sanju Samson’s historic unbeaten inning of 97 runs, which will be remembered in Indian cricket for years. Samson, who came to open, kept one end while chasing a big target and returned only after making India victorious. The winning four came from his bat. By winning this match, Samson not only got India a semi-final ticket but also broke a big record of Virat Kohli.

This great record of Kohli was broken
Samson played an unbeaten inning of 97 runs in 50 balls. His innings included 12 fours and four sixes. Batting at a strike rate of 194, he faced all the West Indies bowlers very well and helped India cross the threshold of victory. Samson has become the batsman who scored the highest score in run chase for India in the T20 World Cup. Earlier this record was in the name of Virat Kohli. He had scored unbeaten 82 runs against Pakistan in 2022. This innings of Virat came while chasing runs. In this matter he also left Rohit Sharma behind. Rohit had scored unbeaten 79 runs while chasing runs against Australia in 2010.

Made second best score in T20 World Cup
Sanju Samson has also become the second highest scoring Indian batsman in the T20 world. Suresh Raina is at number one in this matter. Raina had created history by playing an inning of 101 runs in 2010. He became the first Indian batsman to score a century in this tournament and is still the only Indian. Rohit Sharma is at third place in the list of Indian batsmen who have played the biggest innings in this tournament. He scored 92 runs against Australia in 2024.

India in semi-finals for the sixth time
The Indian team has made it to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup for the sixth time. With this, the team also equaled the record of Pakistan and England playing most semi-finals. India won the trophy in 2007. After this, it made it to the semi-finals in 2014, 2016, 2022, but lost. In 2024, India again won this tournament under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma and now under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav, the team made it to the top-4.