NEW DELHI: India legend Sunil Gavaskar believes Sanju Samson's return to playing eleven for the Super Eights of the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup is a proof that the pieces are falling into place for the defending champions at the right time ahead of their semi-final against England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.
Samson rose to the occasion with a perfectly paced 97 not out off just 50 balls as India chased down 196 to beat West Indies by five wickets in a virtual knockout clash in front of 67, 000 spectators at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
“Yes, sometimes you have a situation where you actually have a piece falling into the right place. I do believe that Rinku Singh's father's illness at that stage and because he was away, had the opening for Sanju Samson to be brought into the team for the game the other day - not the one at the Eden Gardens, the one in Chennai.
“That's where he got the Indian team off to a start with Abhishek Sharma of over 40 because in all the matches till then, one of the openers, either Abhishek or Ishan Kishan had got out for a duck and the Indian team would lose a wicket in the power play, ” said Gavaskar, while replying to a query from IANS in an interaction ahead of the DP World Celebrity Golf Event to create awareness on the CHAMPS Foundation.