New Delhi: T20 World Cup’s player of the tournament Sanju Samson believes India are set to be the most dominant force in global events in the coming years.
Samson scored three half centuries in consecutive knockout matches to help India be the first team defend the crown and win it for three times.
The 31-year-old was not an automatic choice but forced his way into the team and then became its most valuable player and said the feeling of being a world champion is yet to sink in.
“Not yet, I am still like, actually, when I get up in the morning I’m like ‘has it really happened’. So honestly, that’s the feeling,” Samson said on the sidelines of the BCCI Naman Awards 2026.
“But I feel that in the coming years with the quality of players we have in our country, this is going to be repeated. It’s not going to be, okay, it has happened once in a while. The amount of players which are coming up and definitely India is going to do this more and more often.”
Samson, who scored 321 runs at a strike rate of nearly 200 in five innings, said he long dreamt of helping India lift a World Cup.
“Absolutely, I think you can only dream where you want to go, but you can’t definitely ride the path towards it. So my life or my career has been one of the best examples. I definitely wanted to do this a couple of years ago,” he said.
“I want to win a World Cup for my country, but it had its own plan, its own script. So, but more like a movie. I enjoyed it.”
‘Focus on team’
Hailing from Kerala, Samson toiled hard for several years, leading up to starring in the T20 World Cup.
“As I said before, I wanted to do something like this, then I got pulled out of my journey, and then suddenly, the team wanted me to come and contribute, and that’s when I actually mentally flipped a bit… I think, before that, in the New Zealand series, the focus was all about myself,” Samson said.
“But in the World Cup, the focus is all about the team. I think what does a team require. And in the Zimbabwe game, right from that moment, everyone wanted me to contribute to it. I had a role to play.
“So that’s when the shift happened and the confidence that, okay, ‘the team needs you, Sanju’, and let’s do what you can the best. So that’s where everything started from.
“And then I had the experience, I was working mentally. I was working physically, so I knew that I’m ready, and I knew that this is meant for me, so I just had to do what I know best.
“So, I’ve been playing this format for a very long time and then it was just about planning and going out there and executing it,” Samson added.