‘If it is good for the team, drop me’: Sanju’s words left me stunned, says Suryakumar Yadav

NEW DELHI: Former India captain Suryakumar Yadav has revealed that leaving Malayali star Sanju Samson out of the playing XI in the early stages of the 2026 T20 World Cup was one of the toughest decisions he had to make during India’s title-winning campaign.

Suryakumar also recalled a conversation with Sanju after he was dropped from the team. According to Suryakumar, Sanju told him to make whatever decision he believed was best for the team’s chances of winning the World Cup. Suryakumar was speaking on Aakash Chopra’s YouTube channel.

“I spoke to Sanju on the bus. I told him that things could get difficult in that situation. But he told me to do whatever was necessary for the team to win the World Cup. He said he would be there whenever the team needed him and would prepare in the same way as he would if he were playing. Hearing that gave me a lot of confidence. You realise that there are people like this in life,” Suryakumar said.

“Leaving Sanju out was one of the toughest decisions. He had not scored many runs in the 2024 Sri Lanka series. He asked me what he should do. At the time, he was playing in the Duleep Trophy in Anantapur. I told him that I had faith in him and that the coach also had the same belief in him. I promised him that even if he got out for a duck in the next seven matches, he would still play in the eighth,” Suryakumar said.

Ishan Kishan, who had impressed as an opener in the series against New Zealand ahead of the T20 World Cup, was given opportunities in India’s opening matches of the tournament. However, Sanju was brought back into the playing XI after India failed to get good starts and Abhishek Sharma was not fully fit.

Sanju made the most of the opportunity, producing a series of impressive performances at crucial stages of the tournament. His contributions played a key role in India’s title-winning campaign, and he was eventually named the Player of the Tournament.