'To be honest, I didn't believe him' - Sanju Samson makes honest admission about Rohit Sharma's T20 World Cup 2026 reassurance

India wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson has opened up about one of the toughest phases of his international career during the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026. The Kerala batter revealed that he initially found it difficult to believe Rohit Sharma's reassuring words after being left out of India's playing XI following a poor T20I series against New Zealand.

Despite Rohit's attempt to lift his spirits, Samson admitted he was too disappointed at the time to see the bigger picture. However, the setback eventually became the turning point in his World Cup campaign as he bounced back in remarkable fashion to play a key role in India's title-winning run.

Following India's T20I series against New Zealand ahead of the World Cup, Rohit had encouraged Samson to stay patient, insisting that his opportunity would come during the tournament.

"Dukhi mat ho bhai. It is a long tournament, kabhi bhi mauka aa sakta hai." ("Don't be disheartened, brother. It is a long tournament. You'll get your chance. The opportunity can come anytime,") Rohit had told Samson while embracing him.

Samson admitted that he struggled to accept those words at the time.

"To be honest, I didn't believe him at that time. Sorry. He might have spoken from his heart or from his experience, but that day I wasn't able to see what he was seeing. You could see it on my face; I was a bit off that day," Samson said while speaking to JioStar.

The wicketkeeper-batter also revealed that the disappointment stayed with him during the early stages of the tournament.

"Our World Cup campaign started two days after the New Zealand series, and it takes me at least a week to recover. I don't like to bottle things up, so it shows on my face if I'm not feeling 100 per cent. I went through that phase for four or five days before getting myself back on track," he added.

Samson explained that the difficult phase forced him to reflect on his purpose, which ultimately helped him rediscover his confidence.

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"You know you've failed, so what's next? You're at the bottom, so from there, you can only go up. I started working on myself mentally. I started asking myself questions, why do I play cricket? What's my purpose? It was like I was rediscovering myself while the World Cup was going on. And then everything just came back," Samson said.

His comeback turned into one of the biggest redemption stories in T20 World Cup history. After initially missing out on the playing XI, Samson returned to the side and finished as India's highest run-scorer in the tournament with 321 runs in just five matches at an outstanding average of 80.25 and a staggering strike rate of 199.37.