Legendary Sunil Gavaskar was all praise for opener Sanju Samson after India lifted their third T20 World Cup title. India bested New Zealand in the summit clash by a comprehensive margin of 96 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday and Samson had a major role in taking the team to glory.

Samson returned with scores of 97(50), 89(42), and 89(46) in the virtual quarterfinals, semifinal and final of the tournament, respectively. The right-hander was awarded Player of the tournament after he scored 321 runs in five matches at an average of 80.25 and a strike rate of 199.38.

Gavaskar recalled that Sanju Samson’s shot-making in the semifinal was similar to legendary West Indies batter Sir Viv Richards. The former Indian skipper also compared the Kerala batter with former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene.

Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar, “His pulling, off the fierce pace of Jofra Archer, was reminiscent of Viv Richards at his powerful best, though most of his batting is more like the Sri Lankan stylist Mahela Jayawardene. Purity of batting is generally a virtue in the longest format of the game, Test match cricket, and occasionally in the 50-over game, but hardly ever in the ultra-short format of the game.”

“Samson provided that in all his three fifty-plus innings in playing classical cricket shots, along with some of the most imperious pulling and hooking seen in recent times.”

Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma, who had a quiet tournament, came good in the final against the Kiwis. Sharma scored a quickfire knock of 52 runs off just 21 balls and added 98 runs for the opening alliance with Samson.

“In the final, Abhishek Sharma came good with the quickest half-century in the T20 World Cup. Both the openers had, with their performances when it mattered most, justified the trust shown in them by the team’s brains trust,” said Gavaskar (via the aforementioned source).

India posted 255 runs on the board in the final and New Zealand were never in the game in the second innings.