'I never wanted to be selfless' - Sanju Samson prefers staying true to his nature

Sanju Samson has been the talk of the town after his stellar performance for India during the 2026 T20 World Cup. The wicketkeeper-batter wasn't India's first-choice opener heading into the marquee event. He played only one game in the group stage when Abhishek Sharma was recovering from a stomach bug. However, he returned to the side for the must-win clash against Zimbabwe and never looked back.

Samson scored enthralling half-centuries against the West Indies in the Super 8 stage to roar back into form. He followed it up with fifties against England in the semi-final and in the final against New Zealand. The 31-year-old was awarded Player of the Tournament after finishing with 321 runs from five matches at an average of 80.25 and a strike rate of 199.38.

Samson recently explained the conscious policy introduced by captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir, prioritising the team's success instead of individual milestones.

“That’s the way everyone is thinking now. It was a conscious decision brought in by our captain and coach in the dressing room. The constant message from our leaders to the group is that the team should come first and individual milestones should come second," Samson said during an interaction with the media recently.

“That automatically got drilled into each and every one of us in the team and that’s how we started reacting in every game," he added.

The former Rajasthan Royals skipper said staying true to his nature has helped him contribute in a better way to the team’s cause.

“Honestly, I think that’s the true nature. I never wanted to be selfless. I think I’ve always wanted to be myself. So myself brings a lot of different qualities, a lot of strengths and a lot of weaknesses," he said.

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Samson will now shift his focus to IPL 2026, where he will be representing the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the first time. He was traded to the five-time champions by the Rajasthan Royals in exchange for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran.