Sanju Samson was T20 World Cup 2026’s ‘Player of the Tournament’© AFP
Sanju Samson‘s three consecutive half-centuries at the T20 World Cup 2026 was the most inspirational story to emerge from the tournament. For long, Samson has been considered as having the talent to make it big on the biggest stage. Somehow, the consistency never arrived, and ahead of the T20 World Cup, he suffered a torrid run. He did not play in all matches in the tournament either. But once he started to fire, beginning with the Super 8 match against West Indies, there was no stopping him.
India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak revealed the quiet confidence that preceded Samson’s resurgent run to becoming the Player of the Tournament in India’s triumphant 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup campaign, recalling how the wicketkeeper-batter promised that he would contribute whenever the team needed him.
“I always used to tell Sanju, ‘Sanju, you don’t know – sometimes in two or three days, an injury or form issue could come up, or even a combination issue may appear. So you have to be ready.’ He has so much experience, but he would laugh and say, ‘Arey Kotsi bhai, don’t worry. Whenever the team needs me, I will contribute,'” Kotak told IANS.
The India batting coach even asked him for a hundred, and Samson gave an interesting reply.
“I told Sanju, ‘Ek toh hundred karna hai’ (you have to score one hundred). He replied with a smile: ‘On one hand you say it’s not about personal milestones, and on the other you say I should score a hundred. How are both things possible?'” Kotak said in an interview to Sportstar.
After being an unused member in India’s 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup win, Samson ended up amassing 321 runs across just five innings in 2026 to finish as India’s leading scorer, surpassing Virat Kohli‘s 319-run mark from 2014 – making him the most prolific Indian batter in a single edition of the tournament.
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