Justice for Sanju: A true Kerala story

NEW DELHI: Arshdeep Singh has been a ‘character’ on social media ever since India won the 2026 T20 World Cup. With his pranks and banter, the left-arm seamer has spared no one, not head coach Gautam Gambhir, not seniors like Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel, and not even Sanju Samson, who stepped up on three big nights on the bounce in this World Cup.




In one of his many Instagram Reels, with a beaming Sanju beside him, the pacer quips, “O paaji, justice mil gaya.” Arshdeep said it with a laugh, citing the social media trend #JusticeForSanju whenever the opener was benched in the T20 World Cup or in the lead-up to the tournament.



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This has been the story of Sanju Samson in the past 18 months. Under Gambhir's regime, the Kerala cricketer either batted like a millionaire or looked bankrupt. He lost his place, he lost self-belief, but he was backed by the team management and it proved to be one of many standout aspects in India's T20 World Cup triumph.



First, there are the milestones of trophies: second straight, third overall, back-to-back, first by hosts. Look deeper and there is the standout bowling even though batting was the much-heralded aspect going into the competition. And when the batting looked a mess, a couple of changes later, things took a sharp upward curve. India produced three 250-plus totals in the last four matches. A total of 106 sixes were hit across the competition, the first time a team crossed a century of maximums.

But there is another factor that stands out. It sits underneath this success for the Indian team. And it is the backing shown by the selectors, the coaching staff and the leadership group to multiple players, but arguably none more than Sanju Samson. At the other end, there is also the perseverance shown by him.

For teams of the past, the thrashing by South Africa by 76 runs would have resulted in knee-jerk reactions. Instead, it was met with some shrewd strategic changes. Samson came in for the clash against Zimbabwe that followed. After a 15-ball 24 in the opening slot alongside Abhishek Sharma, the template was set.

"Performing their roles, understanding their responsibilities, chipping in at the right time, talking to each player when someone is not doing well. That is more important to me. When someone is not doing well, you try to spend time with him, take him out for dinners, talk to him, because those are the players who at the right time will do something special for you, like how Abhishek did just now and Sanju did in the last three games," said Suryakumar Yadav in the post-match press conference.

Team India coach Gautam Gambhir acknowledged that it was always going to be tough for the 31-year-old, especially with, admittedly, his career on the line.

"It takes so much character and courage when you know that maybe your career is on the line. Even if the captain and I can show as much faith and trust in him, deep inside you know that you didn't have a great series against New Zealand before the start of the World Cup. And then you didn't start in the playing XI during the World Cup, losing your spot to Ishan Kishan," said coach Gambhir.

The form wasn't the best. In the New Zealand series, Samson scored only 46 runs at a miserable average of 9.20, with the highest score being 24. Against Namibia in the T20 World Cup, even though India posted 209/9, he contributed a mere 22 runs from eight balls.

That might have been that for Sanju and his India ambitions, but with the team's top order getting exposed time and again, a shuffle in order and approach was the need of the hour. That, coupled with the hammering by South Africa, played into the Trivandrum-born cricketer's hands.

Samson came through on this chance, and the backing was justified. A 50-ball 97 against the West Indies. A 42-ball 89 against England. A 46-ball 89 against New Zealand in the final. In all, 275 runs from 138 balls at a strike rate of nearly 200, including 25 fours and 19 sixes.

Let's run down the magnitude of these three innings. The 89 against New Zealand is the highest score in a T20 World Cup final. His fifty-plus scores in the semi-final and final saw him enter a four-man list. His 321-run tally made him the highest Indian run-scorer in a single T20 World Cup edition and the third-highest overall. Finally, he smashed 24 sixes, the most by a player in one tournament, nearly a quarter of India's overall maximums.

Before all this, though, he sat in the dugout. The camera panned to him after every struggle by the Indian top order. Question marks were raised repeatedly, but the noise grew louder after the defeat to the Proteas. In that moment, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate admitted that bringing Sanju in was going to be a "talking point."

Sanju, meanwhile, felt his "dreams had shattered" after the New Zealand series. But "huge" conversations with Sachin Tendulkar kept the faith going, ensuring he remained upbeat and hopeful of luck shining on him.

"A lot of former players have reached out to me and tried to help me out. Over the last couple of months, I hope I can share it here, I've been in constant touch with Sachin sir. When I was sitting outside in Australia during the T20Is in October and not playing a game, I thought about what mindset was required.

"I reached out to sir and had long conversations with him. Even yesterday night, he called me up to check how I am feeling. Getting guidance from someone like him, that clarity, game preparation, awareness and game sense, I am grateful for everyone who supported me."

The low point, admitted Sanju, came after the New Zealand series. He felt "broke" and "out of my mind", with his dreams "shattered." It reminded him of where this desire was born.

"This entire process started one or two years earlier when I was with the 2024 World Cup-winning team in the West Indies," he said. "I couldn't get a game, but I kept dreaming, kept visualising, kept working. This is exactly what I wanted to do then," said Samson on being part of that Rohit Sharma-led squad.



"I thought I needed to put in so much work because this is exactly what I wanted to achieve. By God's grace today things have turned around," he continued.

The "Justice for Sanju" social media campaign to bring the Keralite into the team might have felt excessive. It might have even looked cringeworthy at times. But now that the script is written, maybe it was God's plan after all.