'Gambhir fought everyone': Shoaib Akhtar's stunning reveal on Samson's comeback

Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has praised India caput manager Gautam Gambhir for backing Sanju Samson, whose red-hot signifier with the bat has go 1 of the biggest talking points of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026.Samson was drafted backmost into the Indian playing XI aft the squad mislaid to South Africa, successful what was efficaciously a knockout clash against the West Indies cricket team. The wicketkeeper-batter seized the accidental successful style, smashing a superb 97 during a tense pursuit to usher India to victory. He carried that momentum into the semi-final, producing a blistering 89 disconnected conscionable 42 balls arsenic India defeated the England cricket squad to publication a spot successful the last against the New Zealand nationalist cricket team.

Speaking connected the ‘Game On Hai’ amusement connected PTV Sports, Akhtar explained that Samson’s instrumentality to the broadside was not a straightforward call. According to the erstwhile pacer, Gambhir had to powerfully advocator for the batter’s inclusion wrong the squad absorption setup."Samson has been successful the Indian cricket circuit since 2014. Back successful the days erstwhile I was moving successful India, astir 2015, determination was a batch of hype surrounding him. He had to hold for a agelong clip to get regular chances arsenic India had wicketkeepers similar MS

Dhoni

, Dinesh Karthik and others. Even now, Gambhir has fought with everyone to get him into the team.

Basically, his enactment has been done forcefully and aft a batch scrutiny. He didn't diagnostic successful the tourney initially," said Akhtar successful a video shared by Tapmad.Samson’s numbers successful the tourney underline his singular tally of form. In 4 matches truthful far, helium has accumulated 232 runs astatine an awesome mean of 77.33 and a onslaught complaint of 201.73, including 2 half-centuries. His highest people remains the unbeaten 97 against West Indies successful the virtual quarter-final successful Kolkata.The 31-year-old besides etched his sanction alongside

Virat Kohli

aft his semi-final heroics. Samson’s 89 against England equalled Kohli’s grounds for the highest people by an Indian successful a T20 World Cup knockout match. Kohli had produced an identical 89 not retired disconnected 47 balls against the West Indies during the semi-final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2016 astatine the aforesaid venue.Samson has besides dominated the six-hitting charts successful this variation of the tournament. With 16 maximums to his name, helium has already surpassed the erstwhile Indian grounds of 15 sixes successful a azygous T20 World Cup campaign, which was acceptable by

Rohit Sharma

successful the 2024 edition.