File photo of Sanju Samson© AFP
It was a campaign to remember for Indian cricket team wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson at the T20 World Cup 2026. Samson was not picked for the first two matches of the competition but he turned out to be a top performer for his side as he slammed a hat-trick of half-centuries in the business end to guide his team to the title. It was a special performance from him as he scored 97 not out (vs West Indies), 89 (vs England in semifinals) and 89 (vs New Zealand in final).
Just before the World Cup, a picture of Samson and legendary India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh surfaced on the internet and later, Samson called the sessions “very helpful”. In a conversation with Sports Tak, Yuvraj revealed a major technical flaw in Samson’s batting that he identified and revealed that their interactions started back in 2024 after India’s T20 World Cup win.
“Sanju had reached that stage where he felt he was not finding a place in the XI,” Yuvraj said. “The conversation I had with him happened in 2024 when India won that World Cup in Barbados. I had been watching his batting for 2-3 IPL seasons. I told him we would speak whenever he had time. So my issue with Sanju was, you have to improve your footwork.
“If you don’t improve your footwork, you will consistently land in trouble. Scoring runs or not is different, but you have to improve your footwork. I gave him some ideas on how to improve it,” revealed the former Indian cricket team all-rounder. The more time he spent on the wicket, his footwork improved. So I felt obviously he must have done something in his practice,” he added.
Samson is currently playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Chennai Super Kings.