Sanju Samson is close to breaking important records in the Asia Cup 2025 final, where India will face Pakistan. He has played a key role for India in the tournament
as a wicketkeeper-batter and could set new benchmarks for Indian players in T20I multi-nation competitions.
In this Asia Cup, Samson has scored 108 runs in three innings. His average is 36.00, and his strike rate is 127.05. He has batted in the middle order, with scores of 13, 39, and 56. The half-century against Oman came when he was promoted to number three in the lineup.
Sanju Samson can make History in Asia Cup 2025
If Samson scores 64 more runs, he will pass Rishabh Pant's record of 171 runs, which is the highest run tally by an Indian wicketkeeper-batter in a multi-nation T20I tournament. MS Dhoni is next with 154 runs in the 2007 T20 World Cup.
Sanju Samson closing in on 1000 T20I Runs
Samson is also just 31 runs away from reaching 1,000 career T20I runs for India. So far, Samson has played 48 T20Is, scoring 969 runs with an average of 26.18 and a strike rate above 149. His record includes three centuries and three half-centuries, with a best score of 111. He has also hit 55 sixes in T20Is, which is more than any other Indian wicketkeeper-batter.
The Kerala batter has been batting in the middle-order in the Asia Cup 2025, a position he is not familiar with in this format. When he was interviewed by Sanjay Manjrekar ahead of India's Super Four match against Bangladesh, Samson reflected on his batting order change and compared his experience to Mohanlal's versatile career.
"To be honest, recently our Lal Ettan, Mohanlal, the cinema actor from Kerala, got a very big award from the country. He is an actor and has been acting for the last 20, 30, 40 years. So I am also playing for my country now from the last 10 years. So I can't say that I only can do a hero role. I need to be a villain, I need to be a Joker," Samson said on Sony Sports Network.
Despite a new role, Samson has adapted to his tasks properly and is expected to make a strong mark in the final as well.
