Sometimes the most profound victories are those that begin with quiet, devastating surrender.
Long before Sanju Samson stood on the podium in Ahmedabad clutching the Player of the Tournament trophy as the winner of the T20 World Cup, he was a man who mentally packed his bags and left the building. He was gone not only from playing XI, but from believing that the game he loved still loved him.
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What followed was a revival orchestrated by a unique convergence of forces: a technical blessing from the god of cricket, a tactical crisis that turned into a divine openingand a support system that functioned more like a sanctuary than a dugout. This is the story of how Sanju Samson, broken by the weight of his own expectations, was put back together by the hands of those who saw what he had stopped seeing in himself.
To appreciate the height of Samson’s current pedestal, we must recall the depth of his despair in January.
In January, the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram was transformed into a cathedral built for one man. Above the gates stood a 50-metre cutout of Sanju Samson, a towering symbol of Kerala’s obsession with its favorite son, who was set to play his first T20 international match in his hometown. The script was written: Samson, who survived sitting on the bench during the Asia Cup and tour of Australia, finally got a starting slot. This was the final audition for the T20 World Cup. Samson’s form has been a key factor in India’s defense in the T20 World Cup. (PTI photo)
Instead, the carnival turned into a wake. While Samson struggled, putting together just 46 runs in five matches, his opening partner Ishan Kishan hit a magnificent, definitive century on Samson’s own ground. Ishan almost sealed the opening spot with that hundred, while Samson once again fell behind in the pecking order.
The giant cutout at the entrance to Greenfield Stadium has become a mocking monument to what might have been.
“I was absolutely heartbroken,” Samson told the India Today conclave on Saturday, recalling the tough phase at the start of the T20 World Cup. “I thought I was going to win the World Cup, but I wasn’t even in the playing XI. I was gone for five or six days mentally.
That was the nadir, when the chosen one realized that he was once again the forgotten one. But as the world will soon learn, when the hands of men turn away, the hands of the gods begin their work.
THE GOD OF CRICKET
It was during the November 2025 series in Australia that Samson sat on the boundary ropes watching Jitesh Sharma take over the middle-order role, that he appealed to the highest authority.
God of Cricket – Sachin Tendulkar.
The depth of this mentorship is best illustrated by its timing. Last week, as India navigated the high pressure of the World Cup semi-finals and final, a different kind of milestone occupied the Tendulkar household: his son’s wedding. Still, even as the house buzzed with celebrations and world dignitaries, Master Blaster made time for the Kerala boy. Samson’s rise received a helping hand from the god of cricket himself. (Photo: PTI, Reuters)
Tendulkar spoke to Samson on the eve of the final. It wasn’t a call about elbow position or bat speed; it was an infusion of clarity. After facing the weight of a nation for 24 years, Tendulkar helped Samson develop a game sense that allowed him to stop chasing the game and let the game come to him.
“I have been in constant touch with Sachin Tendulkar sir,” revealed Samson after the final. “He even called me yesterday to check how I was feeling. To get advice from someone like him – what more could I ask for? That clarity, that awareness of the game … he helped me develop it.”
That the God of Cricket stepped aside from his son’s wedding celebrations to calm the young man’s nerves is a testament to the divine support Samson eventually secured.
FATE
While Tendulkar was working on his spirit, a tactical crisis was brewing which eventually forced the Hand of God into the table for the Indian team. India entered the World Cup with the top three from left: Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan opening, with Tilak Varma at third. It was a left-arm show that was feasted on by the opposition captains who used off-spinners in the power play to suppress the score.
The stalemate became Sanju’s destiny. Management realized it needed a starboard stabilizer to break the trap. The left-left-left experiment was abandoned and Samson was called upon to open with Abhishek, moving Ishan to No.3.
The leadership group provided the psychological scaffolding for this comeback. Suryakumar Yadav, the captain, remembered Samson’s raw, vulnerable plea: “Just tell me what you want from me.” SKY’s response was a mandate for violence: “We want the same Sanju Samson we saw torn apart.”
Gautam Gambhir, a man not prone to exaggeration, remained a staunch believer even as the public moved on. “We always knew that whenever we needed him in a World Cup game, he would do it,” Gambhir noted. For management, Samson was not just a tactical replacement; he was a world-class player who got a much-needed break to escape the pressure cooker.
THE HUMAN HAND
Maybe the most human hand in this story belonged to his wife Charulatha. In a rare admission for an elite athlete, Samson admitted he was not 100 per cent after the Hearts in the New Zealand series. He felt negative and broke down.
Fearing the isolation of backup life, he asked Charulath to travel with him after the World Cup. He didn’t want a coach; he wanted refuge.
“Initially, I knew I wasn’t going to make the team,” Samson said. “I asked her to be with me because I wasn’t at my best. When my wife is with me, I’m always a bit more positive, always laughing and smiling.”
This domestic peace, combined with what Samson calls the power of prayer, created a mental fortress. He spoke of real people praying for him—a collective energy from the backwaters of Kerala to the diaspora in the Gulf—that he believed could not go to waste.
THE SPARK IS BACK IN DELHI
Internal reconstruction Sanju Samson reached a pivotal moment in the capital. Ahead of the match against Namibia in Delhi, the atmosphere in the Indian camp was light. The players enjoyed training, sharing laughs and the camaraderie of a winning team. But in the middle of the fun, Samson was a man apart.
Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak has been another big hand in Samson’s revival. Kotak spent more time with him throughout the tournament, but it was on that day in Delhi that the shift was palpable. After a grueling session, the hug between Kotak and Samson spoke volumes, a silent acknowledgment that despair had given way to focus.
“I was gone for five or six days and then I started to rebuild,” Samson recalled at the India Today conclave. In Delhi, this rebuilding took shape.
BIG KNOCKS IN BIG GAMES
When the opportunity finally presented itself, Samson didn’t knock on the door; he blew it off the hinges with a sequence of innings that redefined his career.
The revival began in a must-win game against Zimbabwe in Chennai. Samson hit a sharp 24 off 15 balls in his new IPL home. It was a modest score on paper, but it was the key that unlocked the Indian batting unit.
By neutralizing the threat of premature rotation, he allowed the rest of the order to breathe. It was a spark that turned into a forest fire.
In the Super 8s against the West Indies, the world witnessed the evolution in style of Virat that Samson was working on. Chasing a steep 196, Samson produced a masterpiece of controlled aggression. His unbeaten 97 was a masterclass in chase pace, knowing when to hit and when to hunker down. It was a display of Samson’s maturity and a statement of intent for the Indian team as they marched into the semi-finals. Sanju Samson continued the match winning knocks for India. (PTI photo)
In the big semi-final in Mumbai, Sanju Samson made another statement and smashed Jofra Archer into the stands. It was not a favorable match for Samson but the fearless Indian opener took on the English pacer and neutralized the opposition attack with brutality. Samson scored 89 as India posted 253, which proved enough to see them win by 7 runs.
Finally, in the grand finale in Ahmedabad, Samson showed the way. He led India’s fearless approach first with an impressive 46-ball 89 as they amassed a record 255, setting the tone with a batting defined by clarity, courage and great authority.
Three scores over 80, one in each of the big games. Samson won the Player of the Tournament award – a moment he admitted was a childhood dream, something he had muttered in all those prayers over the years: to be the man for the team on the biggest stage. And he was there with the winner’s medal and player of the tournament trophy. All those years of bench warming were forgotten when the big moment came.
THE SMILE IS BACK
Ahmedabad marked the culmination of the chosen one’s arc, a gold medal finally hanging around his neck. Yet Sanju Samson’s true measure was revealed 48 hours later.
There were no exotic locations, no lavish after-parties and no celebrity support. Instead, Samson returned to Thiruvananthapuram to meet his parents – the ones who first handed him the bat. Then he did something that only a person who is truly at peace with himself would do. He gathered the boys with whom he started playing cricket, piled them into a car and drove all the way to Calicut. Samson celebrates defending India’s T20 World Cup title in Ahmedabad. (PTI photo)
The World Cup hero was spotted at regular roadside tea shops sipping chaya with his childhood friends. In a sport often obsessed with exotic locations and brand building, Samson chose the familiarity of the road and the company of those who knew him before the 50-foot cutouts were built.
“God had other plans,” Samson mused, reflecting on the journey that saw him broken in January and anointed in March. It was a plan made by many hands: a phone call from a legend in the middle of a wedding, a wife’s smile in a hotel room, a coach’s tactical center and the prayers of the community.
Sanju Samson not only won the World Cup; he survived the test of his own talent. And as he sat in that tea room in Calicut, far from the bright lights of Ahmedabad, it was clear that the Hands of God had not just given him a trophy, but had finally given him back his smile.
– The end
Issued by:
Debodinna Chakraborty
Published on:
15 Mar 2026 10:59 IST
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