The T20 World Cup 2026 is only a stone’s throw away, and while India would be heading into the tournament as the absolute favourites, team combinations tend to give the management – head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav some real headaches. While some names will automatically pick themselves – such as Hardik Pandya, Abhishek Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh, the remaining seven will depend on conditions and opponents.
Among them is Sanju Samson. Until a few months ago, Samson was a regular, the team’s opener alongside Abhishek. However, the return of Shubman Gill in the Asia Cup pushed him down the order and even out of the Playing XI for a game. Gill isn’t part of the squad anymore, but Ishan Kishan’s comeback has made the situation tricky. In an ideal world, Samson is Surya’s go-to man, but with the captain confirming Ishan’s return to the XI at No. 3, do not rule out a last-minute surprise.
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If that is to happen, it would be the third straight T20 World Cup that Samson risks missing out, although the chances are slim. Samson went on to win the T20 World Cup in 2024 but failed to break into the Playing XI. However, in both tournaments, he failed to break into the Playing XI. For someone who has been around for more than a decade – Samson debuted in 2015 – not playing a single World Cup game could be a bitter pill to swallow.
{{/usCountry}}If that is to happen, it would be the third straight T20 World Cup that Samson risks missing out, although the chances are slim. Samson went on to win the T20 World Cup in 2024 but failed to break into the Playing XI. However, in both tournaments, he failed to break into the Playing XI. For someone who has been around for more than a decade – Samson debuted in 2015 – not playing a single World Cup game could be a bitter pill to swallow.
{{/usCountry}}“10 years of lots and lots of failures, a few successes here and there. It has always been to understand what it takes to be a World Cup cricketer for an Indian team, and how badly I want it. Talking about the 2024 World Cup, I didn’t play a single game. Yes, things were a bit up and down, to be very honest, but it did not match the expectations I had set. Still, I was grateful that I made it into the 15,” Samson said in a video uploaded by the BCCI.
Samson has not put a foot wrong ever since he started opening. In 2024, he became the first Indian batter to smash back-to-back centuries in T20 cricket and ended the year with three centuries. With Tilak Varma, Samson holds the record for India’s highest individual partnership in T20Is.