Team India opener Sanju Samson said that Rohit Sharma had faith that he will be back in side during the T20 World Cup 2026 earlier this year.
Published: July 21, 2026, 2:45 PM IST
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Sanju Samson (left) and Rohit Sharma. (Photo: IANS)
Chennai Super Kings wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson had a remarkable turnaround and played a massive role in Team India winning the T20 World Cup 2026 earlier this year. Samson had scores of 96 not out, 89 and 89 in the last three matches for India – including the semifinal and final – to end up as the ‘Player of the Tournament’.
But there was a point in the T20 World Cup 2026, when Samson was struggling to even get into the playing 11. But former India captain Rohit Sharma believed he would eventually play and shared his big prediction with Samson.
Team India opener Samson told JioStar’s ‘Believe’ that Rohit Sharma told him that he could get a ‘chance’ later in the tournament.
“To be honest, I didn’t believe him at that time. Sorry. He might have spoken from his heart or from his experience, but that day I wasn’t able to see what he was seeing. You could see it on my face, I was a bit off that day. Our World Cup campaign started two days after the New Zealand series, and it takes me at least a week to recover. I don’t like to bottle things up, so it shows on my face if I’m not feeling 100 per cent,” Samson told JioStar.
“I went through that phase for four or five days before getting myself back on track. 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, why do I play cricket? What’s my purpose? It was like I was rediscovering myself while the World Cup was going on. And then everything just came back,” he added.
Samson was traded to Chennai Super Kings from Rajasthan Royals for Rs 18 crore ahead of IPL 2026. But he was aware that Ishan Kishan had gone ahead of him in the pecking order when the T20 World Cup 2026 started.
“I realised I was overdoing it, and my wife was right, being happy and mentally in a good space is much more important than putting in hours and hours of practice. The New Zealand series taught me that. After that, Ishan came in, and his story was completely different. He wasn’t even in the team. He won Jharkhand the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy almost single-handedly, then came into the Indian team and was batting on a different level altogether. I could clearly see that Ishan was moving above me in the pecking order,” Samson said about Ishan Kishan.
When Hitman gets going, records don’t stand a chance!
Rohit Sharma produced a knock for the ages at Lord’s. #ENGvIND #INDvsENG | (Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Lords, Sam Curran, Gautam Gambhir) pic.twitter.com/3BnfyPbJtZ
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) July 19, 2026
“You get five matches and score 24, 6, 6, 10 and 0, then another guy comes in, scores 70-odd straightaway, gets a hundred later in the series, and the next match is directly in the T20 World Cup. Anyone would prefer an in-form batter. It was clear that the World Cup was done for me. Whatever had to happen had happened, and the only thing I could do was sit quietly and clap,” Samson felt.
The Kerala wicketkeeper scored a match-winning 96 not out vs West Indies in a Super 6 match which was a virtual quarterfinal for Team India.
“I prepared much better for that game after the Zimbabwe one. There are days I’ve played in the IPL and for India, and I’ve scored those centuries, when everything just feels right. It was one of those days. You just enjoy, stay in the moment, stay in the process, and things start happening automatically. I also knew it was a very big game for India.
“After the powerplay, I usually go into fifth gear. I’m an opener, if I get through the Powerplay, and we bat till No. 8, my game plan is to take on the bowling. But in that game, every time I felt it was time to attack, a wicket would fall at the other end. That’s when I realised the game is the biggest teacher. The game tells you what to do,” Samson said about his knock vs West Indies.
