Sanju Samson is playing as an opener for India in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. In the fixture taking place at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad against New Zealand on Sunday (March 8),
Samson opened his account by hitting six on the fifth ball of the first over of India’s innings, which was bowled by Matt Henry. The first run of the final by Samson helped him complete 1000 runs in T20Is for India as a designated wicketkeeper-batter.
The 31-year-old cricketer from Kerala is the second designated wicketkeeper-batter after MS Dhoni to score 1000 runs in T20Is for India. Dhoni, who played 98 T20Is for India from 2006 to 2019, scored 1617 runs in 85 innings. On the other hand, Samson scored his 1000th run as wicketkeeper-batter in his 45th match. He overall has 1316 runs to his name in 62 T20I matches.
In the list of designated wicketkeeper-batters with the most runs in T20Is for India, Dhoni and Samson are followed by Rishabh Pant (996) and Ishan Kishan (545).
Most runs for India in T20Is as designated wicketkeeper-batter
| PLAYER | MATCHES | INNINGS | RUNS | BEST SCORE | AVERAGE | STRIKE RATE | 100/50 |
| MS Dhoni | 98 | 85 | 1617 | 56 | 37.60 | 126.13 | 0/2 |
| Sanju Samson | 45* | 38* | 1005* | 111 | 30.27 | 160.35 | 3/4 |
| Rishabh Pant | 64 | 54 | 996 | 65* | 23.71 | 129.01 | 0/2 |
| Ishan Kishan | 21 | 21 | 545 | 89 | 27.25 | 137.62 | 0/5 |
| KL Rahul | 8 | 8 | 305 | 57* | 43.57 | 139.26 | 0/3 |
The world record of scoring the most runs in T20Is as a designated wicketkeeper-batter is in the name of England’s Jos Buttler. Buttler has amassed a total of 3592 runs in 127 T20I matches for England.
Most runs in T20Is as designated wicketkeeper-batters
| PLAYER | COUNTRY | MATCHES | INNINGS | RUNS |
| Jos Buttler | England | 127 | 120 | 3592 |
| Quinton de Kock | South Africa | 109 | 108 | 3082 |
| Mohammad Rizwan | Pakistan | 91 | 80 | 3053 |
| Kusal Mendis | Sri Lanka | 76 | 76 | 2067 |
| Mohammad Shahzad | Afghanistan | 72 | 72 | 2030 |
| Rahmanullah Gurbaz | Afghanistan | 73 | 73 | 2006 |
| Nicholas Pooran | West Indies | 80 | 72 | 1790 |
| Tim Seifert | New Zealand | 78 | 72 | 1697 |
| MS Dhoni | India | 98 | 85 | 1617 |
| Lorcan Tucker | Ireland | 77 | 73 | 1491 |
South Africa’s Quinton de Kock and Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan are other cricketers who have scored more than 3,000 runs in T20Is as designated wicketkeeper-batters.
The six off Henry’s bowling by Samson in the first over of the final was his 17th six in the T20 World Cup 2026. If he manages to hit four more sixes in the ongoing match, then he will take his tally of maximums to 21 in the ongoing tournament. As of now, the record of hitting most sixes in one edition of the T20 World Cup is in the name of New Zealand batter Finn Allen.
The 26-year-old top-order batter from Auckland has hammered 20 sixes in eight matches of the 2026 T20 World Cup.
