Indian wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson recently opened up about his chat with the then-skipper Rohit Sharma ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup final. Samson was selected to play in the ultimate match but dropped at the last minute.
Sanju Samson had an incredible IPL season, which happened just before the T20 World Cup 2024. He led the Rajasthan Royals to the IPL knockout stage and also scored tons of runs with his bat. His leadership skills in the league made everyone want him in the World Cup squad.
Everyone was happy for Samson when he got the call for the T20 World Cup. But again, as a surprise, the player wasn’t picked for a single match in the tournament, which had led to widespread criticism. But as a silverline for Samson, he was picked for the playing XI for the final against South Africa.
But the happiness didn’t last that long. Samson was informed that the management would stick with the same team as the semifinal and he wouldn’t be able to play.
Sanju Samson Recalls Rohit Explaining His Absence from World Cup Final XI
Sanju recalls that skipper Rohit Sharma had a hard time explaining his omission from the squad just before the match. Rohit assumed that Samson was unhappy due to the decision and was trying to make the player understand why he had to take the difficult decision.
“During the warm-up, Rohit took me to the side and started to explain to me why he was making that decision. He was like, ‘You understood, na? You know his way, very casual?’ I told him, ‘Let us win the match and then talk. You focus on the match. He came back one minute later and said, ‘I know you are cursing me in your mind.’ I think you are not happy. I feel like you have something on your mind. Then we had a discussion,” said Samson.
Samson, though, showed a lot of maturity at the moment and said that he was in a ‘no worries’ type of mood.
“I told him, ‘As a player, I want to play’. I had a chance to play in the final. I was told to stay ready. I was ready. However, they decided before the toss that we would go with the same team. I was like, no worries. I was in that type of mood,” he added.
After the World Cup though, Samson was called in for the two T20I series that India played, one against Sri Lanka and the other one against Bangladesh. He had an incredible run against Bangladesh and became the player of the match in the final T20I by hitting a record-breaking hundred that led India to whitewash the visitors.
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