From bench to brilliance, life comes full circle for Samson

new delhi: Batting great Sunil Gavaskar said life has come full circle for Sanju Samson, who rose from being a fringe player to emerge as the player of the tournament with three defining knocks in India’s knockout games during their historic T20 World Cup campaign.

Samson delivered explosive knocks in the last three matches of the T20 World Cup, including the semifinal against England and the final against New Zealand.

“Life has come full circle for Sanju Samson. Before the 2026 T20 World Cup, he had a terrible series against New Zealand. He was dropped, then after the T20 World Cup started, he got a chance to play against Namibia, but his knock wasn’t enough to keep his spot.

“He next played directly against Zimbabwe in the Super 8, but his real redemption began against West Indies in a virtual quarter-final,” said Gavaskar.

“He played a flamboyant innings and looked in complete control. We know how skilled Sanju is. But to perform in a virtual quarter-final, in the semi-final against England and then in the all-important final against New Zealand is not easy.”

Samson, who was the reserve wicketkeeper in the previous edition with Rishabh Pant preferred in the XI, seemed destined for a similar fate this time as well after a poor build-up series against New Zealand in which he managed just 46 runs from five T20Is at an average of 9.20.

He was dropped with Ishan Kishan preferred for the wicketkeeper’s role, but the team had a rethink after India were on the brink of exit following a group-stage loss to South Africa.