Yuvraj Singh has revealed an important conversation with Sanju Samson The wicketkeeper helped shape the batsman’s transformation, especially during a difficult phase of his career.Speaking on a podcast with SportsTalk, Yuvraj reflected on Samson’s struggles, pointing out that a string of setbacks forced the batsman to rethink his approach.
“Coming to Sanju Samson, who failed in 8-10 innings, was going through failure. This is where you need to say, I need to change something. Sanju had reached a stage where he felt he was not getting a place in the XI. He had scored two centuries in South Africa, so I felt… I had a conversation with him in 2024 when I did not win the World Cup back-to-back in Sanju World Cup. IPL Looking at his batting in 2-3 seasons. I told him we will talk whenever he has time.Yuvraj highlighted a key technical flaw that he believed was holding Samson back.“So my problem with Sanju was that you have to improve your footwork. If you don’t improve your footwork, you will constantly be in trouble. Scoring runs or not is a different matter, but you have to improve your footwork. I gave him some ideas on how to improve it.”While the early results didn’t change immediately, Yuvraj saw a marked improvement as Samson spent more time at the crease in high-pressure matches.“After that he played, didn’t do well but then got another chance. I felt in the quarter-final, semi-final and final, the more balls he faced, his footwork improved. The more time he spent on the wicket, his footwork improved. So I felt he must have done something in his practice.”Yuvraj also spoke about the nature of the game and how an innings can change momentum and confidence.“Cricket is such a game, an innings can take you up or down, this game keeps you balanced in life, that’s what I’ve learned. I am very happy for Sanju. He has been playing for so many years and won such an amazing World Cup. He’s a great kid and I’m very happy for his success.”Samson’s performance in the 2026 T20 World Cup supported Yuvraj’s observations. Despite playing only five matches, he emerged as India’s top scorer and was named the Man of the Tournament.In the final, Samson played a brilliant knock of 89 off 45 balls, giving India a flying start and setting the tone for the title win. His innings is now the highest individual score in a T20 World Cup final, surpassing Marlon Samuels’ unbeaten 85 in 2016 and Kane Williamson’s 85 in 2021.The 31-year-old also rewrote the record books by hitting 24 sixes in the tournament – the most in a single edition, surpassing Finn Allen’s previous mark of 20.
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Consistency became Samson’s hallmark as he registered half-centuries, 97* in the virtual quarter-final and 89 each in the semi-final and final, joining an elite list featuring Shahid Afridi. Virat Kohliwho also scored half-centuries in both the semi-finals and the final.He also equaled the record for most consecutive fifty-plus scores in a T20 World Cup, with names like Mahila Jayawardene, Kohli, Babar Azam, KL Rahul, Kosal Mendes and Sahibzada Farhan, with three in a row.In doing so, Samson also became the highest run-scorer by an Indian in a single edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, surpassing Kohli’s longest run streak of 319 runs since 2014.
