Sanju Samson still pinching himself after India’s 2026 T20 World Cup heroics

New Delhi—Sanju Samson, the attacking batter who lit up India’s 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup campaign and walked away with the Player-of-the-Tournament award, concedes he is still living the dream. “When I get up in the morning, I’m like, ‘has it really happened’,” Samson told broadcasters at the BCCI awards here on Sunday, moments after receiving the board’s highest individual honour for the year.

Samson’s tournament statistics read like a video-game line: 321 runs in five innings at a strike rate nudging 200, compiled after he was not even in the first-choice XI. The 29-year-old announced his arrival with an unbeaten 97 against the West Indies in the Super Eight, then produced twin 89s—first to floor England in the semi-final and again to propel India past New Zealand in the title clash on home soil.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the triumph, Samson traced the emotional arc of a career that appeared to have plateaued only months earlier. “You can only dream where you want to go, but you can’t ride the path towards it,” he said. “My life has been one of the best examples. I wanted to win a World Cup a couple of years ago, but it had its own script—like a movie.”

The turning point, he revealed, came during the preparatory series against Zimbabwe, when team management asked him to shelve personal milestones and focus on a specific middle-order brief. “The focus shifted from me to what the team required. Everyone wanted me to contribute. That’s when the confidence kicked in—‘the team needs you, Sanju’—and everything started from there.”

Samson’s renaissance mirrored a broader theme of perseverance within the squad. Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, originally left out of the 15-man party, entered the bubble as an injury replacement for Harshit Rana and walked off with a second T20 World Cup winners’ medal. “I was not in the initial squad, then I got in, played a game, and now I’ve been part of two World Cup-winning squads. I would say it’s a miracle for me,” Siraj said.

While Samson savoured the moment, he was quick to forecast more silverware for an India set-up he believes is bursting with talent. “With the quality of players coming up in our country, this is going to be repeated. The number of players emerging in India is definitely going to do this more and more often,” he predicted.

For now, though, the Rajasthan Royals captain is content to let reality catch up with fantasy. “I was working mentally, I was working physically, and I knew this was meant for me. I just had to do what I know best.” On a heady October night in Mumbai, that was more than enough to end a 16-year wait for a second T20 crown and etch the name Sanju Samson into Indian cricket folklore.