T20 World Cup 2026: Kapil Dev hails Samson’s heroics, urges belief in struggling Abhishek Sharma
India will meet New Zealand in the T20 World Cup 2026 final on March 8.
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Former Indian cricketer Kapil Dev hailed Sanju Samson’s fantastic knock in the nail-biting contest and also had a message for out-of-form batter Abhishek Sharma. During India’s semifinal clash, Samson continued his impressive run in the tournament with a clutch 89 off 42 balls, hitting eight fours and seven sixes.
On the other hand, Abhishek’s poor form persisted as he managed just nine runs off seven balls, falling to an off-spinner for the third time in the tournament. He has scored just 89 runs in seven innings, with a fifty against Zimbabwe being his only significant contribution.
"He is a brilliant cricketer. A big player. A player can go off the target sometimes (on Sanju losing his form before the World Cup). That has what happened with Abhishek (in the World Cup), but they are big players, they will come back. And Sanju Samson really played some wonderful cricket in the last two games,” said Kapil to the media as quoted by The Tribune.
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For the final, Kapil asked both the management and Abhishek to simply believe, passing on a message of self-belief and optimism. India will take on New Zealand in the T20 World Cup 2026 final on March 8 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
"Believe in your team, the management must believe in their players, and the player has to believe in himself - that 'I can perform and I will." There is still one match left, the final, and we hope... yes, individuals are important, but when a team comes together and plays as one, that is when you win," said Kapil.
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India were put in to bat first, and a fiery knock from Sanju Samson (89* off 42 balls, with eight fours and seven sixes), along with cameos from Shivam Dube (43 off 25 balls), Ishan Kishan (39 off 18 balls), Hardik Pandya (27 off 12 balls) and Tilak Varma (21 off seven balls), powered India to 253/7 in 20 overs.
Despite reducing England to 95/4, India could not fully dominate them as Jacob Bethell (105 off 48 balls, with eight fours and seven sixes) and Will Jacks (35 off 20 balls) stitched together a counter-attacking 77-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Bethell continued his charge even after Jacks’ dismissal, and a fiery four-ball cameo of 19 from Jofra Archer brought England very close, but they eventually fell short, finishing at 246/7.
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