Sanju Samson and Yuvraj Singh Yuvraj Singh revealed how a crucial conversation with Sanju Samson helped shape the wicketkeeper-batsman’s turnaround, especially during a difficult phase of his career. In the Sports Tak podcast, Yuvraj reflected on Samson’s struggles and pointed out that a series of setbacks forced the batsman to rethink his approach. “Coming in Sanju Samson, who had failed in 8-10 innings, was a failure. That’s where you have to say I have to make a change. Sanju had reached a stage where he felt he wasn’t finding a place in the playing XI. He made two hundreds in South Africa, so I felt like… the conversation I had with him happened in 2024 when India won that World Cup that I watched at the World Cup in Barbados. 2-3 IPL seasons, I told him we will talk whenever he has time.” Yuvraj highlighted the key technical error that he felt held Samson back. “So my problem with Sanju was, you have to improve your footwork. If you don’t improve your footwork, you’re always going to get into trouble. Scoring runs or not is different, but you have to improve your footwork. I gave him some ideas on how to improve that.” While the initial results didn’t change immediately, Yuvraj noticed a clear improvement as Samson spent more time at the crease in high-pressure matches. “After that he played, he didn’t do well, but then he got another opportunity. I felt in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, the more balls he faced, the more his footwork got better. The more time he spent in goal, the better his footwork got. So I obviously felt he had to do something in his training.” Yuvraj also spoke about the nature of the game and how a single innings can shift momentum and confidence. “Cricket is such a game, one innings can take you up or down. This game keeps you balanced in life, that’s what I’ve learned. I’m very happy for Sanja. He’s been playing for so many years and had such an amazing World Cup. He’s a very good kid and I’m very happy for his success.” Samson’s performances in the 2026 T20 World Cup supported Yuvraj’s observation. Despite playing only five matches, he became India’s top scorer and was named player of the tournament. In the final, Samson played a stunning knock of 89 off 45 balls to give India a great start and set the tone for the title. His innings is now the highest individual score in a T20 World Cup final, surpassing Marlon Samuels’ unbeaten 85 in 2016 and Kane Williamson’s 85 in 2021. The 31-year-old also rewrote the record books with his six-strikes, smashing 24 sixes in the tournament – the most in a single edition, surpassing the previous 20 held by Finn Allen.Consistency became Samson’s hallmark as he registered a half-century, scored 97* in the virtual quarter-final and 89 each in the semi-final and final, joining an elite list that included Shahid Afridi and Virat Kohli who also scored fifties in both the semi-final and final. He also equaled the record for most consecutive fifty-plus scores in the T20 World Cup, with three in a row, alongside names like Mahela Jayawardene, Kohli, Babar Azam, KL Rahul, Kusal Mendis and Sahibzada Farhan. In doing so, Samson also became the highest run-scorer by an Indian in a single edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, surpassing Kohli’s long-standing tally of 319 runs in 2014.
