'No one will tell me how to bat': Sanju Samson says he's done chasing India's selection 'rat race'

Sanju Samson’s comfort in himself comes at a time when there is a surplus of openers for the T20I team.

Sanju Samson is leaving the treadmill behind. Years of sliding in and out of India’s squads, fighting past constant rejections, and returning with renewed purpose have helped him build a strong mental armour. That resilience peaked during the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup on home soil, where he struck three consecutive fifties to drag India across the finish line and retain the title. Yet, instead of chasing lifetime security or worrying about his brief omission for the recent Zimbabwe tour following a short dip in form against Ireland and England, the 31-year-old wicketkeeper-batter chooses complete detachment.

Sanju Samson was left out of India's squad for Zimbabwe tour. (ANI Pic Service)

In an interview with JioHotstar, Samson candidly laid bare his settled mindset, refusing to dance to the tune of external pressures.

"I realised that there is a constant rat race in our country, and I decided before the 2026 T20 World Cup that I would not be part of it. I just want to enjoy the game. By God's grace, I have achieved a lot. I am 31 now, and I have a few years left. So, I have decided to play on my own terms. No one will tell me how to bat or what to do. Sanju will decide for Sanju.”

The former Rajasthan Royals opener, who signed for Chennai Super Kings last year in the IPL, spent years navigating the unpredictable cycle of national selection, where a single bad match often meant immediate expulsion from the squad. Having survived that turbulent loop to deliver high-pressure match-winning masterclasses in a home World Cup, he views the future with peaceful detachment rather than anxiety.

"With all due respect, I will play, enjoy the game, be a good teammate, and support the group, but I will do it my way. After the 2024 World Cup, I didn't even expect to play in the 2026 World Cup. I wasn't in the 14- or 15-man squad at one point. So how can I plan for 2028? If I'm there, if the team needs me, and if I'm playing well, things will fall into place. If not, I am deeply grateful. No one can take this achievement away from me," he adds.

That internal certainty carried him through the toughest heat of the 2026 World Cup. When critics pointed to his past struggles against England speedster Jofra Archer ahead of the semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium, Samson ignored the noise completely.

"When you score runs for the Indian team, you become more responsible, knowing you have to keep scoring. Ahead of the T20 World Cup semi-final against England, our top order wasn't firing much. A lot of people were coming and telling me, 'It's England, Archer is bowling, he got you out 3-4 times previously, this happened, that happened.' But I was confident. I didn't say anything out loud. If you talk too much, you come across as arrogant, and that goes against my belief. So, I just gestured quietly, 'Yeah, we'll see.' But I had my plans ready. I knew that this Sanju Samson was not the Sanju Samson from a year ago. After that West Indies knock, I had a lot of self-validation, and I was very sure about myself. There was no room for doubt. I was going to do it for my country, and no one could stop it."

Samson opens up on being self-confident

That same self-possession defined his final masterclass against New Zealand, where he calmly absorbed pressure against spinner Mitchell Santner.

"When you are confident, you don't mind taking your time. I played an over against Santner where I faced four dot balls in a World Cup final. But I was completely sure that even if I faced four dot balls there, I could hit two sixes later from the other end. I had absolute clarity.”

Samson’s comfort in himself comes at a time when there is a surplus of openers for the T20I team. Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have been the settled pair for long, sharing an aggressive, high-risk match-winning DNA, but Abhishek, despite displaying bouts of overaggressive and immature shot-selection lately, has enjoyed far more slack from selectors and team management due to his youth.

Meanwhile, Samson was dropped to make way for the rapidly rising teen sensation that is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in England and Zimbabwe. And Prabhsimran Singh was selected for the latter series after consistently bulldozing bowlers in IPL and domestic cricket. Paradoxically, India’s two most technically and mentally mature openers, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, have been locked out of the T20I setup entirely, despite the six-hitting craze on Indian flat tracks abandoning the team on foreign soil.

But that headache is the selectors’, not Samson’s. He knows how fickle selection panels can be, so he is choosing to just block out the noise of the grand machine.