Sanju Samson's Father Reveals Names Of Two Greats The India Star Used To Follow While Growing Up

Sanju Samson's redemption story was probably the most intriguing tale to emerge from the T20 World Cup 2026. Samson's 89 off 46 balls helped India post a mammoth 255/5 against in the first innings in the T20 World Cup final against New Zealand. He was the top scorer in the match. Notably, it was his third successive fifty and another match defining innings from his bat. He had also scored an unbeaten 97 in a do or die Super 8 clash against the West Indies and then made 89 against England in the semifinals.

Samson's father, Samson Viswanath, said in an interview that he told Samson to follow the batting styles of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar.

"When Sanju started batting, he used to follow the styles of Sachin Sir and Dravid Sir. When he was just four years old, we never showed him the batting of anyone else. I used to train them, but whenever we watched batting together, we would watch innings of Dravid Sir or Sachin Sir. I would tell the kids, 'Look at how these two great Indian cricketers play and how they use their bats.' That is who they learned to follow," Samson's father, Samson Viswanath, said on India Today.

Samson Viswanath added that he felt Samson was playing like his old self.

“He has just completed three innings, and they were pure class, absolutely class cricket. There was not even a single shot where the ball did not come properly off his bat. He looked completely calm, tension free, and was striking the ball very cleanly. In all three innings, he played every ball with great freedom,” he said.

“This is exactly how he used to play in his childhood. Over the past few years, he had not been playing like this. I used to tell him many times to return to his old style, to go back to the way he originally played, but he would not always listen. When people taunted him, he had to hear all that criticism."

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Sanju Samson T20 World Cup 2026 Cricket