T20 WC: Sanju's fiery 89 hands India early command in semifinal vs England

Indian wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson scored yet another blistering half-century against England in the second semifinal of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to boost India’s chances of keeping the title defence alive.

Sanju, who scored an unbeaten 97 runs off just 50 balls against West Indies in India’s last Super 8 match, went on to score 89 runs off just 42 balls against England to hand India a fiery start in the match.

Sanju had the chance to equal Phil Salt and Suryakumar Yadav’s record of the second-most tons (4 tons) in T20I cricket, but he fell short by 11 runs from reaching the historic milestone.

Sanju Samson also stitched a brilliant 94-run tandem for the second wicket with Ishan Kishan (39 runs off 18 balls), which is India’s highest partnership for any wicket in a T20 World Cup knockout match, surpassing Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa’s 84-run record against Australia in the 2007 semis in Durban. 

Sanju in his 89-run innings hit seven sixes, which takes his total number of sixes in the format to 76. He is now seventh in the list of most sixes for India in T20Is, surpassing Yuvraj Singh’s record of 74 sixes.

Rohit Sharma (205 sixes), Suryakumar Yadav (178 sixes), Virat Kohli (124 sixes), Hardik Pandya (123 sixes), KL Rahul (99 sixes) and Abhishek Sharma (93 sixes) are the only batters above him in the list.  Most sixes for India in T20Is: 

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	Runs	HS	100	50	4s	6s
RG Sharma	2007-2024	159	151	4231	121*	5	32	383	205
SA Yadav	2021-2026	112*	106	3265	117	4	25	297	178
V Kohli	2010-2024	125	117	4188	122*	1	38	369	124
HH Pandya	2016-2026	137*	107	2243	71*	0	9	164	123
KL Rahul	2016-2022	72	68	2265	110*	2	22	191	99
Abhishek Sharma	2024-2026	45*	44	1386	135	2	9	133	93
SV Samson	2015-2026	61*	53	1310	111	3	5	110	76
Yuvraj Singh	2007-2017	58	51	1177	77*	0	8	77	74
NT Tilak Varma	2023-2026	48*	44	1361	120*	2	6	109	69
Ishan Kishan	2021-2026	44*	44	1274	103	1	9	130	66