'The person I would like to thank the most is myself,' says Sanju Samson

Post T20 World Cup success, Sanju Samson is a gift that keeps on giving. The superstar batter who inspired India to the title on March 8 has given numerous interviews since then, explaining about team chemistry, leadership and so on. On Monday, as he addressed the media collectively in his hometown of Thiruvananthapuram, Sanju got candid about how he handled failures.

Sanju talked about the importance of self-trust and self-gratitude, an essential factor not always talked about in team sports. “The person I would like to thank the most is myself,” Sanju said with a smile.

Of course, he added that it was God who powered his strokes in the event. “Even when I say 'me', more than half was done by God. That is what I felt in those matches. Sometimes it felt like it wasn't me who was batting,” Sanju said, referring to a possible divine intervention in his transformation during the later part of the tournament.

But he also elaborated on the introspective part, especially after a horrible New Zealand series played shortly before the World Cup. Sanju could only make 46 runs from five innings against the Kiwis. “After the New Zealand series, I switched off my phone, cut off my social media and got myself into an unreachable zone. My wife was with me, and a friend was with me,” Sanju said.

“The person I would like to thank the most is myself. I'm 31 and have been playing cricket for some time. So I thought the best person to get me out of this situation was myself. Maybe it can be said that I trusted myself. I think that is what gave me the confidence.”

Sanju played some of the crucial knocks in India’s triumph, notably an unbeaten 97 against the West Indies in a do-or-die Super Eights match, an 89 against England in the semifinal and another 89 in the final that set the tone for India’s massive total of 255/5.