There are cricket matches, and then there are cricket moments — the kind that stop time, empty streets, and make a billion people forget to breathe. Sanju Samson created one of those moments in the 2026 T20 World Cup semi-final against England, and when the dust settled and the crowd found its voice again, there was only one name on everyone’s lips.
Ninety-eight not out off 48 balls. A mid-innings wobble turned into a record chase. A nation exhaling as one.
With that innings, Samson did not just win the Player of the Match award — he earned his seat at a table occupied by some of the most celebrated names in Indian cricket history. Because being an Indian player to win a POTM award in the ICC T20 World Cup knockouts is not just an honour. It is a statement. It means you showed up when everything was on the line and the entire country was watching.
And not many have done it.
Indian player to win a POTM award in the ICC T20 World Cup knockouts
| Player | Match | Year & Stage | Key Highlight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yuvraj Singh | vs Australia | 2007 Semi-Final | 70* off 30 & 1/18 — the innings that started it all |
| Irfan Pathan | vs Pakistan | 2007 Final | 3/16 — Misbah’s scoop, the screech, the title |
| Virat Kohli | vs South Africa | 2014 Semi-Final | 72* off 44 — a masterclass in quiet pressure |
| Axar Patel | vs England | 2024 Semi-Final | 3/23 — spin surgery in the crunch moment |
| Virat Kohli | vs South Africa | 2024 Final | 76 off 59 — a decade’s worth of wanting, delivered |
| Sanju Samson | vs England | 2026 Semi-Final | 89 off 42— the new guard announces itself |
The List That Defines Indian Cricket’s Biggest Nights
Over the course of five T20 World Cup victories, India has produced knockout performances that have been talked about, rewatched, and argued over for years. Each POTM winner from those matches carries a piece of cricket history on their shoulders. Here is every one of them — and the story behind the name.
Yuvraj Singh — Semi-Final vs Australia, 2007
Before there was a golden era of Indian T20 cricket, there was Yuvraj Singh in Durban in 2007, willing it into existence.
Australia, the most feared cricket team on the planet at the time, stood between India and their first-ever T20 World Cup final. Yuvraj walked out and played an innings that felt less like batting and more like a declaration — 70* off just 30 balls, aggressive, fearless, almost reckless in the best possible way. He then chipped in with 1/18 with the ball.
India won. A movement was born. And Yuvraj’s semi-final heroics became the foundation upon which everything that followed was built. He was the first Indian player to win a POTM award in the ICC T20 World Cup knockouts, and he set the standard impossibly high from the very beginning.
Irfan Pathan — Final vs Pakistan, 2007
If Yuvraj lit the fuse in the semi-final, Irfan Pathan was the one who set off the firework that mattered most.
The 2007 T20 World Cup Final between India and Pakistan remains one of the most emotionally charged cricket matches ever played — not just because of the trophy at stake, but because of everything else that final carried with it. In those closing overs, with Pakistan needing just a handful of runs and Misbah-ul-Haq at the crease looking dangerous, Pathan struck.
His 3/16 — and specifically, the moment Misbah’s attempted scoop shot lobbed gently into the hands of Sreesanth at short fine leg — is frozen in the memory of every Indian cricket fan who was alive to see it. To this day, that dismissal plays on a loop somewhere in someone’s head.
Pathan’s POTM in that final remains one of the most important individual bowling performances in Indian cricket history.
Virat Kohli — Semi-Final vs South Africa, 2014
By 2014, India had gone seven years without lifting another T20 World Cup trophy. The semi-final against South Africa in Mirpur was not a free-flowing batting masterclass — it was a grind, a low-scoring test of nerve, and exactly the kind of match that separates match-winners from match-players.
Virat Kohli separated himself.
His unbeaten 72 off 44 balls on a difficult surface anchored a chase that could easily have slipped away. Calm, calculating, barely wasting a ball — it was a different Kohli from the one you’d see hammering it over mid-off. This one was building something brick by brick. India squeezed through, and Kohli’s knock was the reason why.
A quiet masterpiece often overlooked in favour of his louder performances. But knockout cricket does not always come with fireworks — sometimes it comes with this.
Axar Patel — Semi-Final vs England, 2024
Nobody does England in semi-finals quite like India does.
In the 2024 semi-final, England were chasing India down with genuine belief — the kind that comes from having match-winners throughout the batting order. Then Axar Patel happened. His 3/23 cut through England’s middle order like a slow, spinning blade, and by the time the innings was done, England’s chase was done with it.
What made Axar’s performance so significant was what it represented beyond the numbers — it proved that India’s threat with the ball was not just Bumrah, not just Kuldeep, not just the pacers. There was depth, there was variety, and there was a left-arm spinner who could take the game away from you on the biggest nights.
Semi-final to final. Job done.
Virat Kohli — Final vs South Africa, 2024
When India last played a T20 World Cup Final, it had been a decade since they had stood on that stage. The weight of that wait was written on every face in Bridgetown — except, it seemed, on Virat Kohli’s.
His 76 off 59 balls in that final was one of those innings that you watch knowing you are witnessing something that will be talked about long after the last ball is bowled. South Africa pushed hard — they always do — but Kohli stood in the middle like he had been waiting his whole career for exactly this moment.
He had. And the innings delivered.
Kohli became the only Indian player to win a POTM award in the ICC T20 World Cup knockouts on two separate occasions — semi-final 2014, final 2024. In a career full of landmarks, that one sits quietly near the very top.
Sanju Samson — Semi-Final vs England, 2026
And now, the newest name on this list.
Sanju Samson had been waiting for this kind of stage for a long, long time. The talent was never in question — anyone who had watched him bat in IPL seasons or in bilateral T20Is knew what this man was capable of. The question was always whether he could do it when it mattered most, in the biggest matches, under the brightest lights.
The 2026 semi-final against England at Wankhede gave him his answer.
India found themselves wobbling in the middle of their chase — the kind of moment where matches can quietly turn before you realise what has happened. Samson did not let it turn. His 89 off 42 balls — four short of a fairytale century — was batting of the highest order. Boundaries that looked violent but were precisely placed. Singles taken when the big shot was not on. Calculated aggression from someone who had clearly arrived at the biggest stage of his life fully prepared.
India sealed the chase. Samson walked off to a standing ovation and a POTM award that felt like a long time coming.
His mentor, MS Dhoni, once did something very similar in White — take India home in knockouts when others could not. That comparison will follow Samson for years, and after this innings, he has done nothing to discourage it.
What This List Tells Us About Indian Cricket
Six knockout POTM awards across five World Cup victories. Six different pressure situations — different eras, different oppositions, different conditions. And yet, the thread connecting all of them is identical: an Indian player stepping up when the margin for error had vanished.
From Yuvraj’s raw audacity in 2007 to Samson’s matured brilliance in 2026, the story of Indian cricket in T20 World Cup knockouts is essentially a story about individuals refusing to be defined by the size of the occasion. They defined the occasion instead.
Now, with the final against New Zealand waiting in Ahmedabad, Samson has a chance to go one step further and add a second POTM to his name — something only Kohli has managed. Whether he does or not, his place among India’s knockout heroes is already secured.
Cricket rewards those who show up when it matters. Samson showed up.
