Competition for places in the Indian team is visible right now, especially in the T20 format. Ishan Kishan was handed a comeback to the national team while Shubman Gill, the team’s vice-captain in the format, was dropped from the T20 World Cup 2026 squad. Samson has now opened up on the competition as well.
“Honestly, Ishan Kishan came into the squad out of nowhere. He had a great Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he won the championship for Jharkhand and he has also had a great story, boss,” Samson said on the CSK podcast with Abhinav Mukund.
“We only look at ourselves, right? I think I have worked day in and day out, but lately I felt like Ishan had also done the same. After what happened to him for the last two years – he was out of the system – he worked so hard in domestic cricket and worked his way back. He had started scoring runs and I can admit it on camera that I could feel he was coming for my spot,” Samson further added.
Sanju Samson even admitted that Ishan Kishan’s performances were such that he told himself that he deserved a spot over him in the team as well.
“In Trivandrum, when he scored that hundred, I was like, ‘Sanju, now you just give it to him, boss. He deserves it more than you do. You got your chances, you didn’t score runs, but there is someone who is in tremendous form.’ He came out of the Mushtaq Ali Trophy, did everything right to reach there and then scored a century just before the World Cup started. So now I think, ‘Sanju, you just leave it,'” Sanju Samson concluded.
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