Sanju Samson was one of the chief architects of India’s T20 World Cup 2026 triumph and he deservedly earned the Player-of-the-Tournament accolade.
The wicketkeeper-batter wasn’t part of India’s XI at the start of the competition but shone with Player-of-the-Match exploits against the West Indies and England before making the highest individual score in a Men’s T20 World Cup final versus New Zealand.
Samson finished the tournament as the third highest run-getter, amassing 321 runs from just five innings at an average of 80.25 and a remarkable strike rate of 199.37.
Reflecting on Samson’s redemption journey, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar slammed the team management for reshuffling his batting order leading up to the showpiece event.
During the Asia Cup 2025 in UAE, Shubman Gill’s return to the T20I fold as vice-captain saw Sanju Samson losing his spot at the top of the order despite hitting three hundreds in 2024.
After receiving some chances in the middle-order, the right-hander was completely sidelined from the playing XI, with Jitesh Sharma being given the first preference because of his match finishing abilities.
As Gill failed to hit a fifty in 15 innings, Samson was reinstated as India’s first-choice opener but Ishan Kishan’s brilliance during the New Zealand series meant latter got the nod for the wicketkeeper-batter spot in the playing XI.
The narrative shifted once more during the T20 World Cup when India’s top-order was blown away by the South African bowler in the Super 8 opener. Samson returned to the opening role, and didn’t put a foot wrong in the remainder of the tournament.
“With Sanju Samson, I think there were serious blunders committed. One is when Sanju Samson seemed to have come of age and recently got three T20 international hundreds in five innings against teams like South Africa. He was actually dropped down the order a few matches later, just after four or five innings, because Shubman Gill in England had a tremendous Test series. It just warped logic that because Shubman Gill played so well in Test cricket, he was reinstated, he was recalled to the Indian T20 team, and what’s worse, Sanju Samson, who was at the top of the order, was pushed down the order to make way for Shubman Gill," Manjrekar said in a video posted on his Instagram account.
“Sanju Samson lost a bit of rhythm in the Asia Cup. He was batting down the order, maybe playing one inning [actually four innings, scoring 132 runs while Gill managed 127 in seven innings] and became dispensable and eventually lost his place in the playing XI," he added.
“Now, this is where fate comes in. Rinku Singh’s absence [actually Abhishek Sharma- due to illness] in one of the games [against Namibia] got Sanju Samson to come back in and Tilak Varma was struggling at No. 3 was pushed down the order [against Zimbabwe] and that is why Ishan Kishan was batting at No. 3. He could bat at No. 3 and Sanju Samson got that spot, which should’ve been his right through at the top of the order and as they the rest is history,” he further remarked.
Sanju Samson produced a match-winning 97* (50 balls) in the virtual quarterfinal against the West Indies, an attacking 89 (42 balls) against England in the semifinal, and another 89 (46 balls) in the final against New Zealand, powering India to a record third T20 World Cup title.
