The biggest change for Team India behind the success story of T20 World Cup 2026 was undoubtedly Sanju Samson. This would not be possible without the support of team management. During his tough days, when Samson was not scoring enough runs, the management kept him with the team and he performed brilliantly when the team needed him most.
During the latest interaction with ANI, Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir said that he had faith in Sanju Samson, which is why he never stopped supporting him despite the poor conditions during India’s bilateral white-ball series with New Zealand.
Gautam Gambhir told why he never lost hope in Sanju Samson
Gambhir said that he never doubted the batsman’s skill or credibility. He was confident that the 31-year-old player would definitely make a comeback. And that actually happened in reality.
Gautam Gambhir said, “I supported him because I thought Sanju Samson could do a lot for the team. And it was never about that. Sometimes people go through lean phases.”
Samson’s performance against New Zealand was poor before the T20 World Cup 2026.
Sanju Samson was completely off-colour during the T20 series against New Zealand. Before the T20 World Cup 2026, Samson and Abhishek Sharma were the first choice opening pair of Team India. Later, the Kerala-born player was dropped from the playing eleven and Ishan Kishan was promoted in the batting order to combine with Sharma for the opening combination.
In 5 matches against New Zealand, Sanju scored only 46 runs at an average of 9.20.
Sanju Samson’s batting statistics against New Zealand in the 5-match T20 series:
|
Turn |
it goes |
highest score |
batting average |
strike rate |
100s |
50’s |
4s |
6s |
|
5 |
46 |
24 |
9.20 |
135.29 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
2 |
Gautam Gambhir further said, “There was a series against New Zealand when he was going through a bad phase, but it was okay because it is not that your form will always be bad. So he needed that break. We gave him a few games off, and obviously, once he came back, we knew he would do well for us.”
Samson loudly announced his return. In a must-win Super 8 match of the T20 World Cup 2026 against West Indies, the right-handed batsman scored an unbeaten 97 runs. In the semi-final, against England, he scored 89, followed by an unbeaten 89 in the final against New Zealand.
But I think he has done justice: Gautam Gambhir
The coach felt that those three matches could also be the turning point in Samson’s career.
“Because we have seen his talent for a long time. If a player makes 3 T20s and 100, if he goes through a bad phase, it is okay. It is acceptable. But I think I have done him justice, and hopefully he can restart his career from now on. And that is important for him”, Gambhir said.
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