Sanju Samson, whose heroics propelled India’s recent victory in the T20 World Cup, declared on Sunday that the nation is set to dominate international cricket for many years to come.
Speaking on the fringes of the BCCI Naman Awards 2026 in New Delhi, Samson also compared his experiences during India’s victorious march to the title to a film, saying it had not yet dawned on him.
“Not yet, I am still like, actually, when I get up in the morning I’m like ‘has it really happened’. So honestly, that’s the feeling,” PTI quoted Samson as saying about last Sunday’s triumph.
He added, “But I feel that in the coming years with the quality of players we have in our country, this is going to be repeated. It’s not going to be, okay, it has happened once in a while. The amount of players which are coming up and definitely India is going to do this more and more often.”
After an incredible campaign that saw him score 321 runs at a strike rate of almost 200 in just five innings to help India win the 2026 T20 World Cup, Samson was awarded Player of the Tournament.
He wasn’t selected in the playing XI at first, but he scored three 80-plus scores in the crucial Super Eights encounter against the West Indies, in the semifinal against England and in the final against New Zealand.
Samson added that he had been hoping to assist India in winning a World Cup.
“Absolutely, I think you can only dream where you want to go, but you can’t definitely ride the path towards it. So my life or my career has been one of the best examples. I definitely wanted to do this a couple of years ago.
“I want to win a World Cup for my country, but it had its own plan, its own script. So, but more like a movie. I enjoyed it,” Samson said.
The T20 World Cup was the pinnacle of the modest Keralan star’s years of hard work to make an impression on the game.
“As I said before, I wanted to do something like this, then I got pulled out of my journey, and then suddenly, the team wanted me to come and contribute, and that’s when I actually mentally flipped a bit… I think, before that, in the New Zealand series, the focus was all about myself. But in the World Cup, the focus was all about the team. And in the Zimbabwe game, right from that moment, everyone wanted me to contribute to it. I had a role to play.
“So that’s when the shift happened and the confidence that, okay, ‘the team needs you, Sanju’, and let’s do what you can the best. So that’s where everything started from. And then I had the experience, I was working mentally. I was working physically, so I knew that I’m ready, and I knew that this is meant for me, so I just had to do what I know best. So, I’ve been playing this format for a very long time and then it was just about planning and going out there and executing it,” Samson said.
From a personal perspective, pacer Mohammed Siraj called the victory a “miracle” because he was only included as a replacement for an injured Harshit Rana and was not even considered in the tournament’s original squad.
“I was not in the initial squad, then I got it, played a game, and now I have been part of two World Cup-winning squads. I would say it’s a miracle for me,” Siraj said.
