Sanju Samson was still processing India’s recent T20 World Cup triumph when he turned up at the 2026 BCCI awards in Delhi, but the wicket-keeper-batter already felt sure of one thing: more trophies are coming.
“Not yet, I am still like, when I get up in the morning I’m like, ‘has it really happened’. So honestly, that’s the feeling,” he admitted, a grin breaking through the disbelief. “But I feel that in the coming years with the quality of players we have in our country, this is going to be repeated. The amount of players which are coming up and definitely India is going to do this more and more often.”
Those words carry extra weight after the month he has just had. Samson did not make India’s starting XI at the World Cup, only to be recalled midway through the tournament – a moment he says “mentally flipped a bit”. What followed was a burst of runs that decided the whole thing: 321 of them, struck at almost 200 per hundred balls. He reeled off 80-plus scores against West Indies in the must-win Super Eight, against England in the semi-final, and again versus New Zealand in the final. Unsurprisingly, he walked away with the Player-of-the-Tournament award.
“You can only dream where you want to go, but you can’t definitely ride the path towards it,” Samson reflected. “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.”
He also spoke of the switch from thinking about personal form during the preceding New Zealand series to a more collective mindset once the World Cup began. “In the World Cup, the focus is all about the team, what the team requires. And in the Zimbabwe game, right from that moment, everyone wanted me to contribute. I had a role to play.”
Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, drafted in only when Harshit Rana was injured, summed up his own whirlwind fortnight in one word: “miracle”. “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, still half shaking his head.
The conversation has already moved on to whether Samson, 31, should replace Suryakumar Yadav as India’s T20 captain. Selectors are staying silent for now; the next squad isn’t due for another month. What is clear is that Samson feels ready for whatever comes. “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.” That formula worked once; he sees no reason it cannot work again.
