India wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson has spoken about one of the most difficult moments of his international career during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. The Kerala batter admitted that he did not believe Rohit Sharma’s encouraging words after being dropped from India’s playing XI following a disappointing T20I series against New Zealand.
Samson said he was deeply disappointed at the time and could not see the bigger picture. However, the setback became a turning point as he worked on himself and later played a major role in India’s successful World Cup campaign.
Sanju Samson says disappointment helped him rediscover himself
Before the World Cup began, Rohit Sharma tried to motivate Samson after he was left out of the team.
“Dukhi mat ho bhai. It is a long tournament, kabhi bhi mauka aa sakta hai.” (“Don’t be disheartened, brother. It is a long tournament. You’ll get your chance. The opportunity can come anytime,”) Rohit had told Samson while embracing him.
Looking back, Samson admitted that he could not believe Rohit’s words at that moment.
“To be honest, I didn’t believe him at that time. Sorry. He might have spoken from his heart or from his experience, but that day I wasn’t able to see what he was seeing. You could see it on my face; I was a bit off that day,” Samson said while speaking to JioStar.
The 31-year-old revealed that the disappointment stayed with him for several days.
“Our World Cup campaign started two days after the New Zealand series, and it takes me at least a week to recover. I don’t like to bottle things up, so it shows on my face if I’m not feeling 100 per cent. I went through that phase for four or five days before getting myself back on track,” he added.
Samson then focused on improving mentally.
“You know you’ve failed, so what’s next? You’re at the bottom, so from there, you can only go up. I started working on myself mentally. I started asking myself questions, why do I play cricket? What’s my purpose? It was like I was rediscovering myself while the World Cup was going on. And then everything just came back,” Samson said.
His comeback was remarkable. Samson finished as India’s highest run-scorer in the tournament with 321 runs in five matches at an average of 80.25 and a strike rate of 199.37, helping India lift the T20 World Cup trophy.
