Sanju Samson: Delhi's loss was Kerala and Indian cricket team's gain

New Delhi: In November 2006, a cricket coach named Yashpal who would train budding cricketers at the DAV Public School in in North-West Delhi's Shalimar Bagh, took three of his trainees to the trials for Delhi's U-13 team.

Unfortunately for him, all three of them were not even shortlisted among 200 players, let alone being considered for the final squad.

A disappointed Yashpal called the father of one of the kids and said, "It will be very hard for your son to play for Delhi. I would suggest you take him to your home state."

Vishwanathan, the kid's father, who served as a constable in Delhi Police and played and coached football at the Police Lines ground, listened intently and acting upon the coach's advice took the boy to Kerala. He shifted back with his family.

The kid played age-group cricket for Kerala and then went on to represent India under-19, India A, franchise in IPL and also India, where on Sunday night he took Indian cricket team to T20 World Cup 2026 semifinals with a five-wicket win over West Indies.

The men from the Caribbean had notched 195/4 in 20 overs. India lost the early wickets of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan. But Sanju Samson stayed on track and built his innings after reaching his half-century off 26 balls before finishing on 97 not out off 50 balls. With this win, India have set up a semifinal clash with England in Mumbai. Both India and England have been playing semis in T20 World Cup for the last two editions. England won it in 2022 while India won it in 2024.

The right-handed opener, who was brought in for the previous game against Zimbabwe, earned the Player of the Match award for his scintillating innings that included 12 fours and four sixes.

Former India cricketer and commentator Ravi Shastri lavished praise on the cricketer. "It is Sanju's special Samson today, and that innings was special, because just his calmness, his composure, and just the sublime touch right through that innings," Shastri was quoted as saying by the ICC website.

"You had everything. You had timing, you had placement, you had explosive power, you had class and what I liked best was even with wickets falling around him, he never lost his cool. He was calm and composed in front of a big crowd."

India cricket team Head Coach Gautam Gambhir too lavished praise on Samson, saying, "He is a world class player, we all know how good a player Sanju is.

"And it was all about backing him. And then when the team needed him the most, obviously today was a day where he probably showed his true potential as well. And hopefully, This is a time for him to kick off and probably two more games to go, hopefully.

"I actually thought that he never accelerated the innings. It was just very, very normal cricketing shots and I never saw any muscling the ball and that is the kind of talent he has.

"When you know that you're in control of the game and you know that you're feeling good, he's hitting the ball really well in the nets and it's about going in the middle and showcasing that skill that you had and obviously he knew that the wicket was very good, quick outfield as well but again I have always said that he is a world class player, he is a great talent and hopefully he can kick off from now and hopefully we can see a lot more innings like this from Sanju," Gambhir was quoted as saying by the ICC website.

The other two kids who failed at the trials were Ankush Bains, who campaigned India under-19 and went on to play Ranji Trophy for Himachal Pradesh and Siddharth Sehwag, who played ago goup cricket for Delhi. 

(For the story, the author wrote 12 years ago in Hindustan Times on the subject, click here) 

Tags : Sanju Samson, T20 World Cup, Cricket, Indian cricket team, West Indies, England cricket, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Gautam Gambhir