India, March 8 -- India did not begin their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign with Sanju Samson at the centre of the script. He came into the tournament after a poor run in the New Zealand series, where he managed 10, 6, 0, 24 and 6, and the sense around him was that India needed to take him out of the immediate pressure cycle. That is what gives his tournament arc such force. Samson did not simply regain touch. He returned to relevance and then made the campaign's biggest nights his own.

The turning point came when India's room for error vanished. Against West Indies in a virtual knockout Super 8 game, Samson produced an unbeaten 97 off 50 balls and carried India through a chase of 196 with four deliveries to spare. It was not merely a good i...