Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson is a right-handed wicket-keeper batter and is considered to be one of the most gifted batters in Indian cricket. Samson sees himself as a top-order batter and has an incredible ability to score briskly in an elegant manner.

Samson made his first-class debut for Kerala at the age of 17, in the year 2012. After an impressive debut season, he earned himself a spot in the U-19 Asia Cup squad. He caught the attention of the selectors on the back of successful outings in the domestic circuit. Samson made his T20I debut against Zimbabwe in 2015 but later found himself away from the national side and decided to focus on his growth.

Samson was picked by Rajasthan in 2013 to play in the Indian Premier League. Rahul Dravid always saw him as a batter with huge potential. When Rajasthan was banned for two seasons, Samson followed Dravid and joined Delhi for a couple of years.

Ever since returning to Rajasthan, Samson has shown tremendous growth with Rajasthan, and hence the franchise decided to make him the captain of the side in 2021. He had a wonderful 2022 Indian Premier League season where he took his team to the final but failed to lift the trophy.

His journey in the T20 format for India remained a mix of highs and lows, with opportunities coming sporadically. However, he continued to be a reliable run scorer while leading Rajasthan in the IPL. A member of India’s victorious 2024 T20 World Cup squad, Samson didn’t get a game but still cherished being part of a historic triumph.

After the World Cup, his form remained inconsistent, but he finished the year on a high, smashing three centuries in his last five T20 innings, two of them on challenging South African pitches, reminding everyone of his class and ability to dominate attacks. Due to stiff competition for the wicketkeeper's spot, Samson missed out on the 2025 Champions Trophy, where India went on to win the title.

In a high-profile trade ahead of the IPL 2026 season, Samson was officially moved to Chennai Super Kings, with Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran heading the other way to Rajasthan Royals. It marked the end of a long and celebrated association with the pink franchise, one that had spanned over a decade and seen Samson grow from a teenage prospect into a captain and one of the IPL's most recognisable faces.

The period leading into the 2026 T20 World Cup was arguably the most difficult of Samson's international career. He endured a lean run in a bilateral T20I series against New Zealand in January 2026, managing only 46 runs across five matches. The knocks were scratchy, the confidence visibly fragile, and questions were once again being raised about whether he had a long-term future in white-ball cricket for India. Samson later admitted that after the New Zealand series he was ‘broken’ and that his ‘dreams were completely shattered.’ It was during this difficult period that he reached out to India great Sachin Tendulkar, having long conversations with him about mindset, game preparation, awareness and game sense, a mentorship that would prove transformative.

When the 2026 T20 World Cup began, Samson was part of the squad but was left out for the first few group stage matches, making only sporadic appearances with scores of 22 off 8 balls against Namibia and 24 off 15 against Zimbabwe. It seemed, once again, as though fortune was conspiring against him. But the true Samson, the one his admirers had always believed in, was about to announce himself on the grandest possible stage.

In a high-pressure virtual quarter-final against West Indies at Eden Gardens in Kolkata in the Super 8s, Samson produced a masterful unbeaten 97 off just 50 balls, anchoring India's chase of 196 and securing a five-wicket victory that propelled them into the semi-finals. He then followed it up with an innings of 89 off 42 balls in the semi-final against England, providing the platform for India's victory. In the final in Ahmedabad against New Zealand, Samson blazed 89 off 46 balls, the highest individual score in a men's T20 World Cup final, smashing eight sixes and five fours as India posted a tournament record total and went on to clinch their third T20 World Cup title.

Despite playing only five innings throughout the tournament, Samson finished as the third-highest run-getter overall, accumulating 321 runs at a staggering strike rate of 199.37. He was named Player of the Tournament, an award that felt not just deserved but long overdue.