Sanju Samson in the Race for T20 World Cup 2026 Player of the Tournament - See Full Nominees List

The ICC has revealed the top players from the ongoing mega tournament who have reached the Player of the Tournament shortlist as the T20 World Cup draws to a close. India and New Zealand will square off in the summit match on Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Among the eight nominees are Sanju Samson of India, Will Jacks of England, Sahibzada Farhan of Pakistan, Lungi Ngidi of South Africa, Aiden Markram of South Africa, Rachin Ravindra of New Zealand, Shadley van Schalkwyk of the United States, and Tim Seifert of New Zealand.

Sanju Samson has been a crucial matchwinner despite not starting every game for India, as evidenced by his Player of the Match heroics against England and the West Indies. India's chase of 196 against the West Indies in Kolkata, which advanced them to the competition semi-final, was built on his undefeated 97 off 50 balls. He then helped India establish a formidable 253 against England with a scorching 89 off 42 balls. In his four innings in this event, he averaged 77.33 and scored 232 runs at a scorching strike rate of 201.33.

Samson is improving with each performance at the T20 World Cup; in India's last two matches, the right-hander won Player of the Match twice. He performed flawlessly as a finisher after dropping down the batting order. At a strike rate of 176.56, he scored 226 runs, providing his team with much-needed momentum in the closing stages. He led England's comeback from 105/5 to 202/7 against Italy, which was his highest batting effort. Jack scored an undefeated 53 off just 22 balls with the aid of three fours and four sixes.

T20 World Cup 2026 Player of the Tournament Nominees:

Hey @grok, who is your choice for Player of the Tournament at the #T20WorldCup? pic.twitter.com/4P8KqpGD6G

— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) March 6, 2026

With 383 runs, Farhan was a breakthrough for Pakistan. As of right now, he is the batter with the most runs in a single T20 World Cup campaign. Additionally, he made history by being the first player to score two hundreds in a single edition. Markram, the captain of South Africa, was crucial to the team's success in this T20 World Cup, giving the Proteas strong starts. At a quick strike rate of 165.31, he scored 286 runs. In the meantime, Ngidi's 12 wickets were crucial to South Africa's bowling innings, and his economy of 7.19 demonstrated that he contributed by managing runs in addition to taking wickets.

At this T20 World Cup, Rachin Ravindra, a big-hitting batsman, has also been helpful to his team with the ball. The left-arm spinner provided New Zealand the advantage against Sri Lanka following the cancellation of their first Super Eight match against Pakistan. He helped limit the co-hosts to 107/8 by scoring 32 runs and coming back to claim 4/27. He concluded with 3/19 in a losing effort against England in the subsequent game.

American fast bowler van Schalkwyk took 13 wickets at an impressive economy of 6.80 in just four games. For a motivated USA team that just missed the Super 8s, he was a star performance. The core of New Zealand's batting was wicketkeeper-batter Seifert. Finn Allen, who opened the batting with three half-centuries, accumulated 274 runs at an average of 45.66 and a strike rate of 161.17. India will play New Zealand in the final of the T20 World Cup on Sunday, March 8, in Ahmedabad.

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