MUMBAI: Opener Sanju Samson said on Thursday he wants “one more” match-winning knock to enable India to defend the T20 World Cup, after his 89 helped edge England in a thrilling semi-final.

India rode on wicket-keeper/batter Samson’s 42-ball innings to post a mammoth 253-7, a total that England nearly chased down at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, finishing on 246-7.

Jacob Bethell’s brilliant-cum-belligerent 105 kept England in the hunt till the last over before Harry Brook’s team fell agonisingly short by seven runs and India marched into their fourth final in the Twenty20 World Cup.

India in the all-important final face New Zealand on Sunday in Ahmedabad.

Samson has been key to putting pre-tournament favourites India in this position after he struck form with an unbeaten 97-run knock in a winner-takes-all contest against the West Indies at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.

He kept up his form in the semi-final and struck eight fours and seven sixes to put India in the driver’s seat.

“It feels really great. I have been actually for a few years trying to do something like this for my country,” player-of-the-match Samson said.

“So definitely I should be very grateful, but I kind of feel that we have one more step to go.

“If we do that, then I think all the work, everything was worth it. So I think that one more innings should be really good.”

The 31-year-old Samson has been in and out of the Indian team and played just one group match against Namibia, when Abhishek Sharma was out with illness.

India brought back Samson in their Super Eights match against Zimbabwe to break up the all left-handed opening partnership of Abhishek and Ishan Kishan and the right-hander has not looked back since producing high-quality knocks with magnificent strokeplay in tense situations.

Samson, batsman who made his debut some 11 years ago, has featured in just 61 Twenty20 International matches for India.

Samson said the struggle to cement a place in Indian national team and the frustrations that came with it were difficult to handle but he shut out the noise by staying off social media.

“I wanted to make an impact and get into the XI of the World Cup here,” said Samson.

“The people whom I love, they were with me. And I closed all my windows. I shut down my phone. I was not on social media.

“I am still not on social media. So less noise, less people interacting with me. So I think that really helped me to focus.”

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2026