mumbai: Sometimes redemption in sport does not arrive with a roar but with the cleanest swing of the bat.
On a high-scoring night at Wankhede Stadium, Sanju Samson’s fluent 89 became the innings that nudged India into the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. It was not a century — something Samson joked about later — but it was the kind of knock that quietly rewrites narratives.
India eventually edged England by seven runs in a semi-final that produced almost 500 runs. Yet the momentum had shifted much earlier, when Samson seized control of the evening with an innings built on poise and controlled aggression.
For a cricketer whose career has often swung between promise and opportunity, the moment carried personal weight.
“It feels really great, really relieved,” Samson said afterwards. “For a few years I’ve been trying to do something like this for my country.”
Relief was perhaps the most revealing word of the night. The last nine months have been far from straightforward for the 31-year-old. He slipped down the batting order, struggled to convert starts during the New Zealand series, and began this World Cup watching from the bench. In Indian cricket, phases like that can swallow players whole.
Samson chose a quieter path through the noise. “I shut down my phone. I stayed away from social media. Less noise helped me focus,” he said.
That retreat brought him back to the fundamentals that define his batting — clean timing, fearless intent and an instinctive sense of T20 rhythm.
At Wankhede, those instincts clicked perfectly with the conditions. “After the first over we knew the wicket was very good,” Samson said. “In T20 cricket nowadays the powerplay decides a lot. The top three have to explode.”
Explode he did.
Samson batted with a fluency that made the innings feel inevitable once it gathered pace. Even a dropped chance midway through did little to interrupt the flow. “I was fortunate,” he said with a grin. “But it was a ball to hit, so I hit it.”