Suryakumar Yadav faced some tough choices leading India to their T20 World Cup win earlier this year. One of the trickiest was leaving Sanju Samson out of the starting XI during the initial matches.
Ishan Kishan had been in good form against New Zealand, so he got the nod ahead of Samson. Then India got off to a slow start in the tournament.
To make matters worse, Abhishek Sharma wasn’t fully fit, so Samson found himself back in the mix. Once he got his shot, he didn’t look back—his clutch performances in the knockout rounds powered India to the title. Samson ended up as Player of the Tournament.
Looking back, Suryakumar talked about the tough conversation with Samson right after leaving him out. Even then, Samson stayed supportive and never let his disappointment show. He told Suryakumar, ‘Do what you think is right to make the team win. I’ll be ready anytime you need me.’ Hearing that made a real difference for Suryakumar during a tough period.
Samson delivered a spectacular 2026 T20 World Cup, racking up 321 runs in five innings at an average of over 80. He scored quickly too, striking at almost 200—a massive reason why India took home the trophy.
Suryakumar admitted that dropping Samson was the hardest call of his captaincy. He remembered how he’d backed Samson during a poor run earlier, telling him to keep faith because the support was there from both captain and coach. He even promised Samson a long run in the side, saying that even seven failures in a row wouldn’t shake his spot in the eighth match. That trust paid off when it mattered most.
“That was my toughest call because I knew that he was a good person. We went to Sri Lanka in 2024, and he did not score a lot of runs there. He asked me what he should do. We were playing the Duleep Trophy in Anantapur. I told him I had confidence in him and that the coach had shown it as well. I assured him that he would play the next seven matches, and even if he scored seven ducks, he would still play the eighth,” he said.