There was something refreshingly honest about Sanju Samson’s admission after his 57-run knock in the second T20I against Afghanistan sealed India’s 7-wicket win in Delhi on Tuesday (September 15).
For years, the wicketkeeper-batter from Kerala who kicked off his cricket journey in Delhi, has been asked to deal with questions that most cricketers would struggle to ignore. Is he consistent enough? Is he doing enough to confirm his place? What happens after the next failure?
And now, there is a new question. What happens when a 15-year-old sensation is waiting in the wings?
Samson knows the noise about his performance will not disappear, but what has changed now for him is the competition around him and with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi now knocking on the door, every failure carries a little more weight.
Samson knows that being an Indian cricketer comes with a heavy dose of scrutiny. Even after years of proving his ability at the highest level first – in IPL and then for Team India – the conversation around his place in India’s playing XI has rarely gone away.
But perhaps the biggest difference now is that the competition is no longer just about established names. It is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The left-handed batter from Samastipur in Bihar has made his case impossible to ignore after a sensational show in IPL 2026 for Rajasthan Royals where he scored 776 runs at a staggering strike rate of 237.30 and smashed 72 sixes which is a record.
He followed that performance by winning Player of the Series in India’s last T20I series against Zimbabwe (in July 2026).
The performance in IPL 2026 and then in Zimbabwe series suddenly made Sooryavanshi the player everyone wants to see. And Samson understands why.
“Indian team run karna bahut aasan baat nahi hai. Aap dekh rahe ho ek ladka, 15 saal ka ladka, 700-800 run maar ke aaya hai. Toh mera Player of the tournament (in T20 World Cup 2026) usse pehle tha, uske baad unhone itna acha performance kiya – he had to come in in some or the other manner.”
“I try to shut out the noise, try to be confident, and try to come out and still keep scoring at a high strike rate. Even taking the chances, even knowing that if I fail again, I’ll be facing a lot of noise again. But I think that’s the way we are built here in Indian cricket, and I just go out there, try to score maximum, and contribute,” he said.
“It’s a very challenging place to be in, right from the team management and everyone: from the captain, the coach, and the selectors. It’s a very tough choice, actually. All of them are really good, all of them are performing, and all of them have to be given a right opportunity to keep performing at the international level. So, it’s a very tough decision,” he said.
“I totally understand myself, leading an IPL franchise. I know how hard these decisions are, and everyone has been performing really well. I have been in this kind of space for quite a few years, so I just know how to balance it out, think about what is in my control, and try to be very positive with your competitors as well. They are competitors for the outside world, but we are a team, we are playing for a country, and we want to win the game first. Then it comes down to individuals,” he said.
