Sanju Samson had a torrid T20I series against New Zealand just before the T20 World Cup 2026. While receiving the Player of the Tournament award, Sanju Samson revealed that conversations with Sachin Tendulkar over the past two months helped him to stay focused and bounce back.
“To be honest, there has been a lot of guidance and suggestions from senior players,” Samson said while receiving the award.
Samson continued and said: “A lot of former players have reached out to me and tried to help me out. From the last couple of months… I hope I can share it here. I’ve been in constant touch with Sachin sir. When I was sitting outside in Australia (during the T20Is in October)… I wasn’t playing a game, I thought about what mindset is required.
“I reached out to sir and had huge (long) conversations with him. Even yesterday (Saturday) night, he called me up to check how I am feeling. Getting guidance from someone like him – that clarity, game preparation, awareness and game sense – I’m grateful for everyone who supported me.”
The New Zealand series at home hit him hard where the wicketkeeper-batter managed to score 46 runs in five innings. He lost his place to Ishan Kishan in the playing XI. Samson said he was “broke” and “completely out of my mind” after that series.
It can be frustrating for any player sitting out on the sidelines and in the T20 World Cup 2026 he didn’t get a game until the Super Eights. Samson grabbed that opportunity with both hands and struck match-winning scores of 97*, 89 and 89 to finish the tournament with 321 runs at a strike rate of 199.37.
“Right after the New Zealand series, I was broke. I was completely out of my mind. I felt like my dreams had shattered. I thought, ‘okay what else can I do?’ But God had different plans. I suddenly came back into the crucial games, and did what I could for the country. I’m very proud and happy that I was courageous enough to dream about it and things have turned up nicely for me, so I’m really grateful.”
Samson was also part of the 2024 T20 World Cup-winning squad, but didn’t play in a single game in the USA and Caribbean. But he “kept dreaming”, and two years later in Ahmedabad, “things have turned around” for him.
“To be very honest, this entire process started one-two years before, when I was with the 2024 World Cup winning team in West Indies,” Samson said.
“I couldn’t get a game, but I kept on dreaming, kept on visualising, kept on working. This is exactly what I wanted to do then. I thought I needed to put in so much work that this is exactly what I wanted to achieve. By God’s grace today things have turned around,” he also said.
