Does Sanju Samson Deserve A Place In The T20 World Cup 2026?

India won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 after defeating South Africa in the finals by 7 runs at Kennington Oval Stadium in Barbados. India performed brilliantly throughout the World Cup and remained the only undefeated team. There were several match-winners from the Indian team in every match, weather it was a Captaincy knock by the Indian Captain Rohit Sharma against Australia or a match-winning knock of Virat Kohli in the finals against South Africa. The Men in Blue combined effort as a team helped them to end the title drought of 17 long years. But some players were part of the 15-man squad who didn't get a chance to play in the 9th ICC event. One of them from that list is Karnataka batter Sanju Samson, who got picked up in the team after an impressive performance in the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League from Rajasthan Royals franchise by scoring most runs.

Sanju Samson has shown his prowess in the shorter format of the game after Rohit and Virat's retirement, the Indian team management wants to try different playing combinations before heading to the next On, which will be hosted by India and Sri Lanka in 2026. Looking at the Indian conditions, Sanju Samson can play a crucial role in the Indian team, but the question is weather he deserves a place in the Indian team or not. Through this article, we will take a look at Sanju Samson's records and stats in T20I cricket.

Sanju Samson is currently 29 years old and looking at next year's World Cup he will be 31 years of age. Despite his age, he is considered as one of the most experienced players among the current Indian team, who has played under difficult conditions as a captain on several occasions for the Rajasthan-based franchise. However, Sanju Samson is known among the list of inconsistent players, irrespective of playing cricket from the age of 13 in Kerala under-13 cricket team, where he bagged the Player of the Tournament award scoring 973 runs, including four centuries in five matches at an average of 108.11. Not only that! He scored a double century off 138 balls against Goa and finished the tournament as the second-highest run-scorer with 498 runs including two centuries and two fifties in Kerala U-16 team.

Sanju Samson’s cricketing career has gone through several ups and downs, where he was the youngest Kerala cricketer to be selected to play in Ranji Trophy. After that, he was named in the Kerala squad for the 2009–10 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy the same year. Despite performing well in 2012-13 season, he was unable to continue his form in the next season when he was given the captaincy of Kerala 2015-16 season at the age of 20.  However, he made his return to India's 17-man squad to play in 5 ODIs and a Twenty20 against England but didn't get a chance to play due to the presence of former Indian cricketer MS Dhoni. 

It would not be wrong to say that Sanju Samson has several chances by the Indian team, but he has been unable to grab those chances due to his inconsistency as a batsman. However, from 2022 the right-hand batter is seen performing well in T20Is and ODI, where he was named in India’s T20I squad against Ireland, where he scored his maiden half-century by scoring 77 runs in 42 balls. 

After KL Rahul’s exit from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup due to his average form in the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League and Rishabh Pant's return to the Indian team, the Rajasthan Royals captain has been seen as the number one contender for the wicket-keeping position among the team. 

So looking forward to Sanju Samson’s chances of playing in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, it totally depends on his performance for the Indian team in the upcoming T20I series as he has got a lot of experience among the young Indian team, which will be playing without the presence of ace players Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, after their retirement from T20 internationals.