Sanju Samson: The Uncertain Journey of an Indian Cricketer

Sanju Samson’s international story has never been short on talent. It has rarely been short on drama either. What it has lacked, stubbornly and repeatedly, is certainty.

For a decade now, Samson has lived on the edge of India’s squads – close enough to touch the spotlight, never quite allowed to sit comfortably in it. He dazzles, disappears, returns, and then finds the door closing again just as he seems ready to walk through.

Ravichandran Ashwin, who has watched this arc from inside the Indian dressing room, has now put a sharp spotlight on the human cost of that cycle.

Ashwin calls out the “mental battles”

Speaking about Samson’s journey, Ashwin did not dress it up. He framed it as a career lived under constant emotional strain.

“If you are Samson, won't you feel that you did brilliantly in the World Cup and then in Ireland all the batters struggled. Then he failed one game in England and got dropped, he must be experiencing difficult mental battles and wondering why no one understands his position. His journey hasn't been easy, considering he started in 2014,” Ashwin said.

That starting point is important. Samson debuted for India in 2014. In those 12 years, he has never been a permanent presence across formats. He has often been the player called when a slot opens up, and the first one moved aside when the traffic returns.

Ashwin’s frustration lies in the pattern. Strong performances, he suggests, have not bought Samson the usual currency in Indian cricket – an extended run.

From World Cup peak to the familiar drop

The contrast around the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is stark. Samson wasn’t just good there; he was the best of the lot, walking away as Player of the Tournament. That kind of performance usually reorders pecking orders in Indian cricket. It tends to secure a player’s name on the team sheet for months, sometimes years.

Samson did follow it up. On the tour of Ireland, when batters across the board found it hard going, he still impressed. The trajectory looked finally aligned with his talent.

Then came the slide.

Three successive failures in T20Is, and the familiar trapdoor opened beneath him. For the second T20I against England in July, he was out of the XI. Young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi walked in. Samson returned for the final match of that series, but the message was clear: his spot was back under review.

The next squad told its own story. Samson was left out of India’s T20I group for the Zimbabwe tour. For a player fresh off a World Cup where he had dominated, the fall felt brutal.

He resurfaced against Afghanistan, recalled to the XI for the opening T20I. Eight balls, 10 runs. Not a disaster, not a statement. Just another innings that did nothing to quiet the noise around him. His place, once again, looked fragile.

Caught between his own numbers and someone else’s

Ashwin went deeper into the pressure Samson might be feeling, and it wasn’t only about runs and averages. It was about the comparisons that shadow him.

He pointed to the dynamic with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the young batter whose selection often seems tied to Samson’s fate.

“When he plays well, people give the feeling of saying, 'I told you so that time itself'. Yet, when he fails, they'll say he never plays well and is inconsistent so they put pressure on him. You are never sure if the accusation from people is about Samson failing or about Vaibhav Sooryavanshi sitting out because of him playing. You wonder how it'll feel to be Sanju Samson," Ashwin said.

That line cuts to the heart of it. Samson is not just battling for his own place; he is constantly being framed as the reason someone else sits out. Every failure becomes double-edged – a question of his form and a trigger for debates about opportunity cost.

For a wicketkeeper-batter who has already waited 12 years for a clear runway, that kind of scrutiny is not just tactical. It is psychological.

Samson’s story is still being written. The numbers say he has time. The selections suggest time is never really on his side.