One of India’s greatest cricketers and former World Cup winner, Sunil Gavaskar has noticed a striking resemblance between Indian superstar Sanju Samson and West Indies legend Sir Vivian Richards.
Sanju Samson helped India win the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. Although everyone contributed, making it a famous win, had it not been for Samson, India would not have been able to reach the semi-finals and secondly, would not have been able to score 250+ runs on the board in the semi-finals and final.
This was something that Sir Viv Richards, one of the world’s greatest cricketers, had done for his national team for a long time. He not only won games for them but also made the opposition tremble with fear whenever they saw him coming out with the willow.
Viv Richards reminds his powerful best Sunil Gavaskar
Former Indian great Sunil Gavaskar praised Sanju Samson for his exceptional performance in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. He praised the Kerala star who helped India clinch consecutive titles in the shortest format of the game.
Talking about his explosive batting in the T20 World Cup, where he scored at a strike rate of 199.37, Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar that his strokeplay, especially the pull shot, reminded him of West Indies legend Vivian Richards.
Sunil Gavaskar said, “His performance at Jofra Archer’s blistering pace was reminiscent of Viv Richards at his powerful best, although much of his batting resembled that of the Sri Lankan stylist Mahela Jayawardene.”
Gavaskar praises Sanju Samson for playing quality cricket shots in T20Is
Gavaskar further said, accuracy of batting is not common among modern batsmen, especially in the shortest format of the game, but Samson showed how runs can be scored through orthodox methods. However, it was very similar to India’s own Virat Kohli.
““Batting accuracy is generally a virtue in the longest format of the game, Test match cricket and occasionally the 50-over game, but rarely in the ultra-short format of the game,” Gavaskar wrote.
He further added, “Samson played classical cricket shots in all three of his fifty-plus innings, as well as providing some of the most powerful pulling and hooking seen in recent times.”
Both the opening batsmen justified the trust – Sunil Gavaskar
India not only supported Sanju Samson by bringing him back into the Indian team, but also backed Abhishek Sharma despite the left-handed batsman struggling with very poor form.
However, the southpaw returned in good form in the final and returned the confidence with a quickfire half-century, giving India an excellent start of 98 runs off 43 balls for the first wicket.
Gavaskar said, “In the final, Abhishek Sharma scored the fastest half-century in the T20 World Cup. Both the openers, with their performances when it mattered most, justified the faith in the team’s mind.”
Also read: Former Indian star launches brutal attack on Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir for mishandling Sanju Samson
