Indian cricketer Sanju Samson

sanju samson How is it revealed? Rohit SharmaHis reassuring words during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 initially failed to convince him after he was dropped from India’s playing XI in the latter stages of the tournament. However, the wicketkeeper-batsman eventually regained his confidence and responded with one of the decisive innings of India’s campaign against the West Indies.After Samson’s disappointing performance in the five-match T20 series against New Zealand ahead of the World Cup, Rohit made it clear that the Kerala batsman still has a key role to play in India’s campaign.“Don’t be sad brother. It’s a long tournament, the opportunity may come any time.” (“Don’t be disappointed brother. It’s a long tournament. You will get a chance. The chance can come any time”) Rohit had said while hugging Samson.

‘At that time I did not trust Rohit’

Reflecting on that difficult period, Samson admitted that he was too disappointed to believe his captain’s words at that time.Samson told GeoStar, “To be honest, I didn’t believe him at that time. Sorry. He may have spoken from his heart or from his experience, but that day I was not able to see what he was seeing. You could see it on my face; I was a little sad that day.”The Kerala batsman said disappointment persisted even after the start of India’s World Cup campaign, making it difficult for him to move forward immediately.“Our World Cup campaign started two days after the New Zealand series and it took me at least a week to recover from that. I don’t like to dwell on things, so if I’m not feeling 100 per cent it shows on my face. I went through that phase for four or five days before I got myself back on track,” he said.

‘I started to discover myself again’

Samson said the setback ultimately turned into an opportunity for self-reflection, which helped him reconnect with his purpose as a cricketer.“You know you’ve failed, so what’s next? You’re at the bottom, so from there you can only go up. I started working on myself mentally. I started asking myself questions like why do I play cricket? What’s my purpose? It was like I was reinventing myself when the World Cup was going on. And then everything came back,” Samson said.

Sanju Samson’s redemption

Sanju Samson scripted one of the biggest redemption stories in T20 World Cup history, finishing as the Player of the Tournament as India won the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on home soil. After initially being left out of the playing eleven due to poor form, Samson returned to the team and ended the tournament as India’s leading run-scorer and third-highest run-scorer overall, scoring 321 runs in just five matches at an impressive average of 80.25 and a tremendous strike rate of 199.37. He also hit a tournament-record 24 sixes, the most by any batsman in a single T20 World Cup edition.