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The selection committee made a few bold calls before the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. They dropped vice-captain Shubman Gill and recalled an in-form Ishan Kishan who had led his team to Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2025 title win. Kishan carried forward the form to T20Is as well, eventually taking Sanju Samson’s opening spot in the T20 World Cup playing XI. While Samson became India’s home World Cup hero with three consecutive fifties in Super 8 clash, semifinal and the final, Kishan had proved his mettle. Samson recalled a time when he felt that Kishan was coming for his spot.
“Honestly Ishan Kishan, he came in the squad out of nowhere. He had a great Mustaq Ali, he won the championship for Jharkhand and he has also had a great story boss,” Samson told CSK podcast with Abhinav Mukund.
“We only look at ourselves right. I think I have worked day in and day out, but lately I felt like Ishan has also done the same. After what has happened to him from last two years — he was out of the system, he worked so hard in the domestic cricket and he came to where he came and he was starting to score runs and I can admit it on camera that I could feel that he is coming for my spot.”.
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When Samson accepted things as they were
Samson recalled how Kishan repaid selectors' faith with a century against New Zealand in the bilateral series at the 31-year-old’s hometown. In the same game, Samson departed after scoring just six runs. It led to him feeling that Kishan deserves the spot more than he does based on current form. He accepted it before going into the T20 World Cup 2026.
“In Trivandrum when he scored that hundred, I was like ‘Sanju now you just give it to him boss he deserves it more than you do. You got your chances you didn’t score runs but there is someone who is in tremendous form’. He has come out of Mushtaq Ali has done everything right to reach there and he scored a century also just before the World Cup starts, so now I think, ‘Sanju you just leave it’,” Samson said.
Samson’s comeback for ages, Kishan justifies selection
However, Samson got the chance again when Abhishek Sharma fell ill. He scored 22 runs against Namibia before Abhishek recovered from food poisoning. Upon return, the menacing southpaw struggled against off-spin. The South Africa defeat turned out to be the turning point. Samson was brought back into the side to counter the off-spin in powerplay overs with Kishan pushed to no.3. After a 24-run cameo against Zimbabwe, he scored a match-winning 97 not out against West Indies. He followed it up with scores of 89 each against England and New Zealand to win 'Player of the series' award.
On the other hand, Kishan was not out of form either. After a low score against West Indies, he registered scores of 39 and 54 against England and New Zealand respectively.
Samson and Kishan ended up scoring 321 and 317 runs respectively in the tournament. Kishan took four innings more but he played match-winning knocks too, including the 77-run knock against Pakistan in Colombo.
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