For the last couple of months, I've been in constant touch with Sachin sir: Samson

Sanju Samson's 2026 has been a dramatic journey. As recently as January 31, he was a desolate figure in front of his home crowd in Thiruvananthapuram as Ishan Kishan snatched his World Cup spot as the opener-keeper.

Samson had endured a batting slump since the start of 2025. The selectors reinstated him at the top, but runs still eluded him and Kishan nudged him out.

On that harrowing night, he watched his dream of featuring in a T20 World Cup slip away. "I think right after the New Zealand series, I was broken. I was completely out of my mind. I was like 'okay, my dreams have shattered. What else can I do?,'" Samson said.

These words came on a much happier Sunday night, where he completed the full circle from dejection to elation, culminating in India winning the World Cup.

Samson started the World Cup on the bench, coming in only to fill in for an ill Abhishek Sharma in one group game. But India's left-only top-three struggled against off-spin, pushing them to bring Samson back into the mix.

There were signs of a more confident Samson when he scored 24 off 15 against Zimbabwe. The real restoration came at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, where he smashed a 50-ball 97 in a virtual knockout against West Indies. Once the big runs began, they refused to stop. He scored 89 (42) against England in the semi-final and 89 (46) against New Zealand in the final.

In the afterglow, Samson revealed that during last year's tour of Australia, his soul-searching led him to reach out to Sachin Tendulkar.

"From the last couple of months, I have been in constant touch with Sachin sir. I think when I was sitting out in Australia, I thought 'what is the mindset required now?' So, I reached out to sir and I had huge, huge, big conversations with him," Samson said.

"And yesterday also, he called me up to check how am I feeling. So, I think getting guidance from someone like him, what more can I ask for?," he added.

Samson had only gratitude for how it all turned out. He had already seen a T20 World Cup win from close quarters as a squad member in 2024 when he didn't play a game.

"But God had different plans. I think I suddenly came back into the crucial games and I did what I could for my country," Samson said. "It feels like a dream. Out of words, out of emotions. I'm just going through it, so it feels a bit surreal. To be very honest, it all started one to two years before.

"When I was with the 2024 World Cup-winning team in West Indies, I couldn't play a game. I kept on visualising. I kept on dreaming. I kept on working. This is exactly what I wanted to do then."