India wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, who played a pivotal role in the team’s recent T20 World Cup triumph, believes the country is set to dominate global cricket in the years ahead. Speaking on the sidelines of the BCCI Naman Awards 2026 in New Delhi, Samson described the title-winning campaign as an amazing experience that still feels unreal to him.
“Not yet, I am still like, actually, when I get up in the morning I’m like ‘has it really happened’. So honestly, that’s the feeling,” Samson said when asked about the victory.
Looking ahead, he expressed confidence in the depth of talent emerging in Indian cricket. “But I feel that in the coming years with the quality of players we have in our country, this is going to be repeated. It’s not going to be, okay, it has happened once in a while. The amount of players which are coming up and definitely, India is going to do this more and more often.”
Samson was named Player of the Tournament after an outstanding campaign in the 2026 T20 World Cup, amassing 321 runs at a strike rate close to 200 across five innings. Despite not featuring early in the competition, he delivered scores in excess of 80 in the must-win Super Eights clash against West Indies, the semi-final against England and the final against New Zealand.
Reflecting on his long-standing ambition to help India win a World Cup, Samson described the journey as one that unfolded in its own time. “Absolutely, I think you can only dream where you want to go, but you can’t definitely ride the path towards it. So my life or my career has been one of the best examples. I definitely wanted to do this a couple of years ago.
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“I want to win a World Cup for my country, but it had its own plan, its own script. So, but more like a movie. I enjoyed it,” Samson said.
The Kerala batter also spoke about the mental shift that proved crucial during the tournament. After years of striving to make a lasting impact, he identified the World Cup as a defining phase in his career.
“As I said before, I wanted to do something like this, then I got pulled out of my journey, and then suddenly, the team wanted me to come and contribute, and that’s when I actually mentally flipped a bit… I think, before that, in the New Zealand series, the focus was all about myself.
“But in the World Cup, the focus is all about the team. I think: what does a team require? And in the Zimbabwe game, right from that moment, everyone wanted me to contribute to it. I had a role to play.”
He added that understanding the team’s expectations helped him gain clarity and confidence. “So that’s when the shift happened and the confidence that, okay, ‘the team needs you, Sanju’, and let’s do what you can do the best. So that’s where everything started from.
“And then I had the experience, I was working mentally. I was working physically, so I knew that I’m ready, and I knew that this is meant for me, so I just had to do what I know best.
“So, I’ve been playing this format for a very long time and then it was just about planning and going out there and executing it,” Samson said.
