Who was the true Player of the Match – Sanju Samson or Jasprit Bumrah
Seven runs separated the two teams after 40 overs of uncompromising combat. 499 runs earned through sweat and blood, 12 bowlers who tried everything possible, and one question that still haunts: who was the true Player of the Match – Sanju Samson or Jasprit Bumrah in the T20 World Cup semi-final.
Who was the true Player of the Match: Sanju Samson’s benefit performance
Sanju Samson won his second consecutive prize. 89 runs from 42 balls—numbers that speak for themselves. It was his innings that laid the foundation on which India built 253/7, the highest team score in T20 International playoff history in cricket. But at the moment of receiving the award, something unusual happened. Samson stood with a microphone and said things that players rarely say: “If he hadn’t bowled like that in the death overs, I wouldn’t be standing here now. All the merit goes to him.”
Who are we talking about? About a man who never picked up a bat during the entire match. Who took just one wicket, thanks to an incredible catch from Axar Patel. Who was the only one of a dozen bowlers whose economy rate dipped below 8.3 in a game where the average run rate was 12.5. Is it even worth speculating here about who was the true Player of the Match: Sanju Samson or Jasprit Bumrah.
Samson delivered the innings that had been expected from him for 13 months. After the insecure, doubting self, there was no trace left of the former self. The first scoring shot of the match was a careless swat off Archer, who sent the ball over mid-on. The second was that very hook, with which Samson seemed to be saying, ” Come on, throw a short one.” Archer threw. Samson took it.
There was a moment in the third over when the ball, after a shot from Samson, landed in the palms of captain Brook at mid-on. And slipped out. Samson then had 15 runs and India could have remained 24/2. Instead, Samson accelerated so fast that the defenders could only follow the ball with their eyes.
89 runs from 42 balls, 8 fours, 7 sixes. When he was taken out by off-spinner Jax, there were 42 balls left in the innings. How much more could Samson have added? The question remains unanswered.
Who was the true Player of the Match: Jasprit Bumrah
Now let’s look at the one Samson considered a real hero.
Jasprit Bumrah came out in the fifth over. England were 38/1 and clearly intent on attacking. Bumrah’s first ball was what is called the “Bumrah special”: slow, with fingers passing across the seam. Brooke tried to play aggressively but lost control. The ball flew towards cover, and Axar Patel had to run as fast as his lungs would allow to make the catch, which Bumrah himself met with unusual emotions.
Then there was the episode in the 11th over, when Bethell and Jax staged a small revolution. 77 runs in 39 balls – and England believed that 254 was not the limit. Varun Chakravarthy gave 64 runs in 4 overs. With five overs before the final, England needed 69. Not much for a rampaging attack.
And then Suriyakumar Yadav did what Rohit Sharma would have done in his place in the 2024 final. He brought Bumrah back earlier than planned.
The result of this return was 8 runs in 16 overs. Among them was a four from attempt-yorker-turned-full-toss, but the rest was dry pressure statistics. Arshdeep Singh got 16 in the next over, leaving his teammates to defend 45 off 18 balls.
Bumrah’s last six balls in that match decided the fate of two campaigns.
The first three were searing yorkers, after which survival seemed the only available strategy. The next three were a hair’s breadth from perfection. One dot, four singles, one deuce. England needed 39 from 12 balls. The crowd at Wankhede Stadium, quiet during Bethell’s partnership, found its voice.
4-0-33-1. Not 42-ball 89. Not 8×4, 7×6. But when Pandya and Dube came out to bat the last overs with seven runs to spare, it became clear: this match was won not by the one who scored, but by the one who didn’t allow anyone to score.
Axar Patel also has something to offer as an argument. Two incredible catches under pressure—the first dismissed Harry Brook, the second changed the course of the game when Will Jacks was already considering himself a hero. But Aksar is mentioned less often in conversations about the main award than he deserves.
Samson was electric, unrecognizable, and daring. He did what a leader should do. But when he said in the post-match interview, “All credit goes to Bumrah. The world-class, once-in-a-generation bowler. This award should actually go to him,” perhaps he was right not only out of modesty.
In a game where 499 runs were scored, where every bowler got his due, one man managed to keep his economy rate below 8.3. In a game where the running pace was over 12, he was the only one who couldn’t get going.
You can argue until you’re hoarse about who was the true Player of the Match—Sanju Samson or Jasprit Bumrah. But the fact remains a fact: Samson received the award and immediately mentally gave it to Bumrah. When a man who has built an innings of 89 runs says that without the other he would not have stood with the prize, that is perhaps the best assessment.
