Legendary Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh claimed that he helped shape Sanju Samson’s transformation during the toughest phase of his career. He reflected on the failures that forced the batsman to rethink his approach.
Sanju Samson has taken center stage since India’s ICC T20 World Cup 2026 campaign. Despite playing only five matches in the competition, Samson finished as the third-highest run-scorer overall and the highest run-scorer for India.
The 31-year-old veteran cricketer played three brilliant innings for India in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 when it mattered most for India. He broke several World Cup records, including the most runs scored for India in an edition, most sixes and most runs scored by an individual in a World Cup final.
Yuvraj Singh exposed Sanju Samson’s biggest flaw
The former Indian all-rounder revealed that an important conversation between Sanju Samson and him helped the wicketkeeper batsman turn around the toughest phase of his career.
“Talking about Sanju Samson, who was failing in 8-10 innings, was going through failure. This is where you need to say, I need to change something. Sanju had reached a level where he felt that he was not getting a place in the playing XI.
“He had scored two centuries in South Africa, so I thought… I had a conversation with him in 2024 when India won the World Cup in Barbados. In that World Cup, Sanju was not playing. I was watching his batting from 2-3 IPL seasons. I told him that whenever he has time we will talk,” he revealed while speaking on a podcast with Sports Tak.
The former left-hander highlighted the major technical lapses that he believes have held Sanju Samson back after the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, where he did not play a single game despite winning his maiden ICC trophy with India.
Yuvraj backed the Indian opener, saying, “So my point with Sanju was that you have to improve your footwork. If you don’t improve your footwork, you will constantly be in trouble. Scoring runs or not scoring is a different matter, but you have to improve your footwork. I gave him some ideas on how to improve it.”
Yuvraj reveals how Sanju Samson improved in high-pressure games
Yuvraj claimed that the early results did not change immediately, as he observed that the advice gradually helped the Indian batsman improve as he got the chance to spend more time at the crease in high-pressure encounters.
“After that he played but didn’t perform well, but then he got another chance. I felt the more balls he faced in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final, the better his footwork got. The more time he spent on the wicket, the more his footwork improved. So I thought obviously he must have done something in his practice,” the Indian all-rounder claimed.
Samson became the first cricketer to score three centuries in the same calendar year in T20Is and later, with three consecutive half-centuries in the T20 World Cup, he joined the elite list of cricketers to do so.
“Cricket is such a game; an innings can take you up or down” – Yuvraj Singh
The former World Cup winner for Team India revealed that cricket is a game where a special moment can help change the entire momentum for a cricketer.
Yuvraj said, “Cricket is such a game; an innings can take you up or down. The game keeps you balanced in life; that’s what I have learned. I am very happy for Sanju. He has been playing for so many years and has won such an amazing World Cup. He is a very good kid and I am very happy with his success.”
Consistency became Samson’s name as he recorded three consecutive half-centuries, starting with 97* against West Indies, which took India to the semi-finals. He then won his second consecutive final by scoring 89 runs in two consecutive innings in two knockout matches.
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