Seeing samson

T20 World Cup: India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has revealed the quiet confidence that preceded Sanju Samson’s resurgent run to become the Player of the Tournament in a triumphant 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup campaign, recalling how the wicketkeeper-batter promised that he was to contribute to the team’s cause whenever the side needed him.

Samson has been the toast of the cricket-loving nation still in euphoria of retaining the title on home soil following India’s 96-run triumph over New Zealand in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. But reaching to this point wasn’t rosy at all – Samson made 46 runs in five T20Is against New Zealand in the run-up to the World Cup and his place in the playing eleven wasn’t certain.

The wicketkeeper-batter began by playing only once in the group stage against Namibia in New Delhi as stomach illness kept Abhishek Sharma out of the game. But a tactical shift during the Super Eights, after the 76-run loss to South Africa, saw Samson being recalled to break up a left-handed opening pair.