Sanju Samson on his road to revival and missing two centuries: ‘I shut down my phone…’

You can do it once, but can you do it twice? Sanju Samson can! After being the Player of the Match in India’s win over West Indies, the Kerala batter smashed 89 runs off 42 balls against England on Thursday to fire India into the T20 World Cup 2026 final. Samson, who made 97 not out against the West Indies in the must-win clash, was once again declared the Player of the Match in the semi-final.

It’s amazing the kind of impact Samson has created, especially when he was dropped from the playing XI just ahead of the T20 World Cup in favour of Ishan Kishan due to poor form. India were forced to include him at the top due to limitations of playing three left-handers in the top order. And Samson has repaid the faith with two back-to-back match-winning knocks.

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How did Sanju manage to create such a high impact? By simply switching off the outside noise. He found support in the closed ones, walked away from social media, and focussed on the controllables.

“I think when hard times were coming, my close people – the people whom I love and support – they were with me,” he said in the post-match press conference. “I closed all my windows, I shut down my phone, I was not on social media – I am still not on social media. So less noise, less people interacting with me really helped me focus in the right direction, and I am very happy with how things are going.”

“I think that was very challenging for me. I definitely wanted to come and do what I am trying to do now for the country – contribute and win games in the World Cup. But I think I was trying a bit too much in the New Zealand series. I wanted to make an impact and get into the XI for the World Cup here."

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Returning to the basics played its own role in Sanju’s resounding comeback.

“But you know this format – this cricket can get very funny. Even the best in the world actually struggle to score runs in this format. So I had to respect the game. I had to come back to my basics and work a bit more from my basics,” Samson added.

On Thursday at the Wankhede Stadium, Sanju Samson played an impactful and selfless knock that allowed India reach an unsurmountable total of 253. England lost the match by just seven runs, and had Sanju been even a bit selfish to get to his hundred, the final result could have been different.

Samson: ‘I did not miss two centuries’

When asked if he missed out on two centuries in the last two matches, Sanju had a brilliant reply, underlining his commitment to the Indian team.

“Bhai, I did not miss two centuries. I have made 97 and 89 - it is a very big thing. I have been unlucky in the past at times, but sometimes luck also works in your favour once in a while,” Sanju said.

“I was very fortunate that I have got this opportunity so let me grasp it now. It was a ball to be hit, I hit. The catch was dropped. No worries. Next time I will hit a bit harder. You keep it very simple and your mind is always processing how to hit the bowlers, which areas to hit at.”

Explaining the fiery start to the innings, Sanju revealed that quite early, his partner Abhishek Sharma and he realised that it was a batting-friendly pitch and India needed a safe score of at least 250.

“We were talking in the dressing room whether there will be dew in the second innings or not. But whether it came or not, the wicket was looking very good before the toss. Even the covering of grass, I think it was a very true wicket.”

“After the first over, Abhishek and I were talking about how good the wicket was. Abhishek was saying after the powerplay that we should have at least put up 250. That was the wicket,” he said.