Sanju Samson: India’s T20 World Cup hero returns to old form after 3 consecutive failure

Consistently inconsistent. That’s perhaps the apt description for what Sanju Samson – the T20 batter – has been. Despite all the cries for the management not to grant consistent opportunities, the wicketkeeper-batter has had an exceptional run of play. He’s always lived in the binary. It’s either exceptional knocks or failures, nothing in between.

Barring the T20 World Cup 2026, there’s not one occasion where Samson has crossed the 20-run mark in three consecutive matches. One can’t push that under the rug. He was exceptional in the ICC event, emerging as the ‘player of the tournament’ for his knocks of 97*, 89 and 89 in the three knockout matches.

But before or after that tournament, you won’t find a single instance where Samson batted like it was a dream for a prolonged duration. Every international cricketer who’s had a long career like him goes through one. That just doesn’t happen with him. One thought that the T20 World Cup flipped the switch. But, no.

In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season, Samson smashed 2 hundreds and 1 fifty. Yet, he couldn’t score 500 runs. In fact, he has never managed half-a-tonne in the league despite playing 14 seasons. It’s been the biggest issue for him. He keeps knocking on the door but has never truly knocked it down.

Sanju Samson’s last 10 scores in T20Is (away from home)

• 0, 0, 107, 0, 0, 109*, 2, 5, 0, 1

For all the talent in the world and 15 years into his professional career, Samson can’t manage to stitch it all together. He edged one back onto his stumps and was caught in front of the wicket against left-arm fast bowler Jai Moondra against Ireland. Once the ball left him, the other came in.

There’s no clear weakness. No apparent issue. It’s just that he has never been consistent. After 5 (4) and 0 (1) in Belfast, one expected Samson to fire in Durham. The pressure was mounting. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, arguably the most destructive opener in T20 cricket, was warming the bench.

Why? Because the management didn’t want to push Samson or Ishan Kishan out. Both had been exceptional during the T20 World Cup and deserved a long run. But Kishan, since his comeback, has been consistent. In fact, he was India’s best player in the tournament if we look at overall performance.

In the India vs England 1st T20I, Samson was tentative. Whether it was because he’d never played there or feared for his spot, we don’t know. But the intent was missing. He wasn’t looking to clear the infield. After scoring 1 off 6, he went hard and sliced the ball to Tom Banton at backward point.

The innings was neither here nor there. One had no idea what he wanted to do. It’s one thing to get out for a first-ball duck. One can justify that because the batter didn’t get time to settle. But if you play 7 balls with no signs of any help to the bowlers from the surface, scoring just 1 run and showing no sign of intent, something isn’t right.

But what can one say? It’s been the story of Samson’s career. It’s almost as if he’s fine being inconsistent. He’s paid for it before, but perhaps this might be the costlier error of his career.

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