Sanju Samson receives special praise from football legend after ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 heroics

India won the title of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026. In the final, played on March 8 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav, Team India created history by becoming the first team to win the tournament three times. In the title match, India faced New Zealand but achieved a big victory by 96 runs. Sanju Samson played a crucial role in this victory, scoring 89 runs in the final match and laying the foundation for a big total.

Not just in the final, Sanju Samson made fifty-plus scores in the last three matches of Team India in the T20 World Cup 2026 and was the top scorer. At one point, there was no place for Sanju in the playing XI, but then he silenced his critics when given a chance. After losing the Super-8 match against South Africa, head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav made a big change by bringing Samson in place of Rinku Singh and gave him a chance to open.

See Also: Watch: Sanju Samson’s ‘better than others’ comment goes viral ahead of IPL 2026

The Kerala wicketkeeper-batter made full use of the opportunities and delivered an excellent performance for India in important matches. For this reason, when India became champions, Sanju Samson was chosen as the Player of the Tournament. Everyone is praising this player's batting performance, and now a former England footballer has also showered praise on Sanju, a video of which has been shared by Premier League India.

Which football legend praised Sanju Samson after the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026

The footballer who praised Sanju Samson is none other than former England player Michael Owen. Owen was chosen as the Ballon d'Or winner in 2001, which is awarded to the best footballer in the world. The legend, who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United, and Stoke City, as well as the England national team, has congratulated T20 World Cup 2026 Player of the Tournament Sanju Samson and also mentioned that he will visit India soon to meet him.

“Hey Sanju, congratulations on the World Cup, amazing to see, and I look forward to coming over to India again and seeing you soon. Many congratulations.” Michael Owen said in a video shared by Premier League India on X.

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When Michael Owen visited India in 2025, he met Sanju Samson. During this time, both of them participated in various activities, and a very good bond was witnessed between them. Perhaps this is the reason Owen congratulated Sanju for the T20 World Cup 2026 win and for being named Player of the Tournament.

Sanju Samson’s match-winning performances in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026

Before the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026, India played a five-match T20 series against New Zealand in the shortest format. In this series, Sanju Samson completely failed, while Ishan Kishan's performance was very impressive. This was the reason Ishan was selected as Abhishek Sharma's partner in the tournament, and Sanju remained on the bench. However, Abhishek did not play against Namibia due to poor health, and in his place, Sanju opened the innings but could score only 22 runs.

After this, Abhishek returned, and Sanju was once again dropped. However, then Samson made a comeback in the Super-8 match against Zimbabwe and scored a quick 24 runs, but that was just the beginning. In the do-or-die match against the West Indies, the right-hand batter scored an unbeaten 97 runs and gave India a tremendous victory. Similarly, in the semi-final against England, he scored 89 runs.

After that, he played an innings of the same number of runs in the final against New Zealand. In this way, Sanju scored 321 runs in five matches with an average of 80.25 and a strike rate of 199.37. It was this performance that earned Samson the Player of the Tournament award.

Fans react to Sanju Samson’s rise as India’s T20 star after World Cup triumph

Sanju Samson's performance in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 was highly praised by fans. Sanju received numerous opportunities but was unable to make an impact. However, when he showed his mettle in the ICC tournament and helped India become champions, everyone was impressed. Fans also praised Sanju.