Sanju Samson scored 57 in the second T20I against Afghanistan in Delhi.
India had asked Afghanistan to bat first after winning the toss. And thanks to Ibrahim Zadran’s 37 and contributions from Rashid Khan (28) and Darwish Rasooli (26), Afghanistan scored 159/8 in 20 overs. For India, Nitish Reddy picked 3/24, while Arshdeep Singh took two wickets.
In response, Abhishek Sharma hit 39 off 19 balls, and Ishan Kishan made 38*, but the best performance came from Sanju Samson, who made 57 off 22 balls with 7 fours and 4 sixes, as India achieved the target with 7 wickets in hand and went 2-0 up in the three-T20I series.
Samson was under severe pressure, as he had scored just 10 runs in the first game after being preferred over the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Sooryavanshi was the Player of the Series for his 151 runs, including two fifties against Zimbabwe, a series in which Sanju Samson was not part of the India squad.
However, despite a tough T20I tour of the UK, Samson was given first preference against Afghanistan, and he talked about the pressure of knowing that Sooryavanshi was breathing down his neck for the opener’s spot in the India T20I XI.
“We may be competitors to the outside world, but we are a team, and we are playing for a country, and we want to win the game first. We just have to be ready for our own opportunity. We can't sulk that 'Oh, I didn't get [the chance], or why did they give it to him? '. Those kinds of mindsets don't work here.
It is a very challenging place to be in. For the whole team management and everyone, from the captain, from the coach, and from the selectors, it is a very tough choice. I totally understand myself [having] led an IPL franchise. I know how hard these decisions are when everyone has been performing really well,” Samson told the media in the post-match presser, as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Notably, Samson was dropped after poor performances against Ireland and England, paving the way for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to make his India debut. But Samson was recalled for the final T20I against England, after Sooryavanshi had a hard start in international cricket.
But the teenager hammered two fifties against Zimbabwe, and it seemed like he had usurped Samson’s spot in the India XI.
Samson talked about the pressure of constant media news about the question mark on his spot in the Indian team despite being the Player of the Tournament in India’s T20 World Cup 2026 win.
“I try to turn off the Wi-Fi. But sometimes the Wi-Fi comes back on, and I see the comments of the senior players. At first, it feels bad. I am not a machine. We are not robots, so it wouldn’t affect us at all. It definitely matters, and you kind of get a bit affected,” Samson said.
Consistency in results is not always guaranteed with his methods, but Samson’s solution to that is to not tweak anything in the approach.
“I think it's consistency in my process. I think consistency in my preparation, consistency in how I am practicing, and how I am putting my hard yards in. That's where I try to focus. You can't control the consistency in the result in this format… Consistency has to be in the frame of mind, and then whatever happens, happens. I think that's what a fearless mindset is,” he added.
Samson's embrace of competition and faith in his own approach enable the two to coexist, even when fighting for the same position. There is still no guarantee who will open the next game or who will receive the longer rope. Samson, while being one of the two sides involved in this conflict, appears at ease with it.
“You see, a 15-year-old boy has scored 700-800 runs. My Man of the Tournament award [at the 2026 World Cup] was before that. After that, he’s performed so well. He had to come in [to the Indian setup] sooner rather than later. I didn't perform in 2-3 games, and he was in-form, and we wanted to win games in that [England] series. It is very understandable from a leadership perspective. I have been in this situation, and I have taken tough calls as a captain for my IPL franchise,” he explained.
Amongst all this, Samson credited the calmness in his decision-making to very good communication from the Indian team management, including head coach Gautam Gambhir. He credited Gambhir for helping him navigate the tough calls that didn’t go in his favor.
“There was a lot of communication in the middle of the England series. He spoke to me a lot before this series as well… It’s very easy to take very popular decisions. But, as a leadership group, we have been taking some really tough calls, keeping the team at the front. That’s where we have to give the credit to the leadership group of our team,” Samson said.
It remains to be seen whether Samson will continue to open in the upcoming third T20I, given that India has won the series, or management will give a chance to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
(Cricbuzz inputs)