2 min readUpdated: Mar 15, 2026 11:18 AM IST
Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma may have first come together as openers on a make-shift basis, filling in for Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal who were seen as the first-choice openers in T20Is following India’s 2024 T20 World Cup win. The pair was then broken up briefly despite some incredible opening stands for Gill to open with Abhishek before being broken up a third time at the start of the 2026 T20 World Cup due to Samson’s form.
In the end, though, India went back to the pairing halfway through the tournament and reaped the rewards in the final against New Zealand. Abhishek and Samson put up an opening partnership of 98 runs that came in just 43 balls which set the tone for the team. Samson has now spoken about the bond that the unlikely duo share. “We are not ice and fire, we are fire and fire. Sometimes he fires, sometimes I do,” said Samson on India Today. “We have that kind of combination going. We have done this since 2024, we have a Kerala-Punjabi friendship in the middle.”
Samson is six years senior to Abhishek in cricketing terms, having started his senior professional career for Kerala in October 2011. Abhishek’s first senior professional game for Punjab was in February 2017. The pair never really opened the batting together for any side before they came together at the top of the order for India in late 2024. Samson, however, said that interacting effectively in the middle comes pretty naturally to them. “Everything comes pretty naturally to us, so we do not complicate it. He asks me, ‘How is the ball coming?’ I tell him that the ball is coming normally, hit it for a six. It is really simple with him. Abhishek is very brave and collected, I love his character. I really love the partnership with him on and off the field.”
