3 min learnCould 15, 2026 08:55 AM IST
Sanju Samson’s shares have been on a gentle rise within the T20 format after his gorgeous revival within the knockout phases of the T20 World Cup earlier this 12 months. A lot in order that the 31-year-old is now being thought-about because the potential successor to Suryakumar Yadav as India’s subsequent T20I skipper within the forthcoming cycle.
Samson, who entered the World Cup in February on the again of wretched kind, turned the script round for India, beginning with a must-win Tremendous 8 match in opposition to West Indies in Kolkata with an unbeaten 97 in a tall chase. The Kerala batter then smashed back-to-back scores of 89 in opposition to England and New Zealand within the high-pressure setting of the semi-final and ultimate in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, respectively, as India turned the primary workforce to defend the title.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has now backed Samson to take over the reins of the T20I facet ought to India veer away from Suryakumar within the highway to the 2028 World Cup, slated to be held in Australia and New Zealand. Suryakumar’s dipping kind has been some extent of concern, whereas Samson has translated his kind into the IPL 2026 season as effectively, the place he has emerged as Chennai Tremendous Kings’ top-scorer in his maiden stint with the facet.
Sanju’s coming of age
“India, come the subsequent (T20) World Cup (in 2028), is perhaps searching for a brand new captain, relying on how Surya goes over the subsequent couple of years,” Shastri stated on The ICC Evaluation.
“However Sanju Samson has put himself there for a management position as a result of he’s accomplished that previously for Rajasthan (Royals),” remarked Shastri.
Shastri stated the explosive opener who has additionally cracked two tons of within the IPL this season might be a sure-shot choose on the high of the order.
“And he’s a certainty within the facet, on the high of the order, extraordinarily damaging. So I see him, that is simply the beginning of one thing extra you’ll see from Sanju over the subsequent two or three years. I believe he (Samson) has put a lid on all these query marks. There was at all times capability. Individuals would, the truth is, be disillusioned as a result of he wouldn’t do justice to that capability,” Shastri remarked.
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“However my phrase this season, the way in which he’s performed after his efficiency within the T20 World Cup the place single-handedly he nearly received India video games, the massive video games, the quarter-finals (West Indies, Tremendous 8), semi-finals, the ultimate, and the way in which he stepped up and the maturity he’s exhibiting now within the IPL, makes him a transparent case so far as I’m involved for management sooner or later.”