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Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan: Three openers for two spots. The challenge was massive for the team management, as well as between the players. ‘Who will be the openers for Team India in the 2026 T20 World Cup?’ That was a major question ahead of the tournament.
The team management chose the openers- Abhishek and Ishan, based on the recent performances they showed during the bilateral T20I series against New Zealand. Sanju Samson was the first choice to form the opening bond alongside Abhishek Sharma.
Sanju Samson dropped ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup
Sanju proved brutal flop during the New Zealand series, and as a result, he was dropped from playing eleven, and Ishan Kishan was selected as the opener. Weeks after winning the T20 World Cup 2026, Samson parted his lips to describe that phase when Ishan Kishan was delivering back-to-back fantastic knocks, and Samson had no option but to watch those matches only as a spectator, from the dugout.
Samson claimed that throughout his career, he sustained multiple pressure situations, but the emergence of Ishan Kishan put him under such a delicate situation, which he had never experienced before. Fear, fear of losing a spot in Team India, started to gallop the batter’s last hope for revival.
Ishan Kishan’s emergence was like a storm
“It suddenly happens. But after I got out of two games, I was under too much pressure. I could never feel that kind of pressure ever in my life. Just went through it. I couldn’t get out of it, to be honest. I just had one to two day gaps, practice, match,” Sanju Samson said during a podcast.
“It was keep on going. And then I could feel, like on the other end, honestly, Ishan Kishan, he came in the squad out of nowhere. He had a great Mushtaq Ali. He won the championship for Jharkhand. And then I could see, seriously, he has also had a great story,” he added.
Samson confronted the fear and delivered
The emergence of Ishan Kishan was like a fairytale. From battling with personal issues and injury setbacks to leading Jharkhand to win a domestic trophy, Ishan Kishan, among the players, deserved to be in the team and in the T20 WC, too.
Sanju Samson knew the struggle story of the Jharkhand-born. Gautam Gambhir and Co. kept their trust in the keeper-batter. But it was Sanju Samson, who concluded the tournament for India as the star performer by scoring a 97* and two 89-run knocks in back-to-back knocks in the closing moments of the title race.
To show his true spirit, class, and character on the field, Samson had to restore self-belief.
“But lately, I felt like Ishan has also, like, after what has happened to him over the last two years, he was out of the system. He worked so hard in domestic cricket, and he came to where he came. And he was starting to score runs,” he told further.
🔴 SANJU SAMSON OPENS UP ON PRESSURE & FEAR OF LOSING HIS SPOT TO ISHAN KISHAN 🤯
🎙️ – Sanju revealed that after failing in two T20 matches, he felt huge pressure & even started feeling that Ishan was coming for his spot after his strong domestic comeback & century before the… pic.twitter.com/hVgaMT5eVX
— Sam (@Cricsam01) May 10, 2026
“And I could, like, honestly, I can admit it on camera that I could feel that he is coming into my spot. Like, definitely, you feel, you must have also felt it. And in Trivandrum, when he scored that 100, I was like, Sanju, now you just give it to him, boss,” Sanju Samson said.
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