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Sanju Viswanath Samson (; born 11 November 1994) is an Indian cricketer who plays for the India national cricket team in the ODI and T20I formats. He was part of the 2024 and 2026 T20 world cup winning teams, including a Player of the Tournament performance in 2026. He plays for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL and for the Kerala cricket team domestically.
Samson started his cricketing career in Delhi and later moved to Kerala. After making an impact in junior cricket, he made his first-class debut for Kerala in 2011. He was the vice-captain of the Indian U19 team for the 2014 U19 Cricket World Cup. He made his Premier League debut in 2013 for Rajasthan Royals and won the Emerging Player of the Year. He scored an unbeaten 212 in the 2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy, the sixth time an Indian scored a double-century in List A cricket, which is also the second-fastest double-century in the format. Sanju scored his maiden ODI century in the 3rd ODI in the three-match series against South Africa on 21 December 2023.
Samson spent his early childhood in the Police residential colony in North Delhi neighbourhood of Kingsway Camp and studied at Rosary Senior Secondary School, Delhi. He was trained under coach Yashpal at the academy in DL DAV Model School, Shalimar Bagh. When he didn't make it into the Delhi U13 team for Dhruv Pandove Trophy, his father took voluntary retirement from the Delhi police force; a year after he retired from football and moved to Kerala, where Samson and his brother continued their cricketing careers. In Kerala, he attended Masters Cricket Club in Thiruvananthapuram before changing academies to train under Biju George on Medical College Ground, Thiruvananthapuram.
Samson graduated high school from St. Joseph's Higher Secondary School, Thiruvananthapuram. He pursued a B.A. degree in English literature from Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram.
His performance in the 2010-11 Cooch Behar Trophy earned him a spot in the India U-19 team that played the 2012 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup held in Malaysia in June 2012. His dismal show in the tournament meant that he failed to get selected to India's squad for the 2012 Under-19 Cricket World Cup that followed. He was named vice-captain of India U-19 team for the 2013 Top End Under-19 Series in Australia in June 2013. He scored two half-centuries in India U-19's Youth Test series against Sri Lanka held from July to August 2013. In the 2013 ACC Under 19 Asia cup in UAE, he scored a century in the final against Pakistan, helping India retain the cup. He was also India's vice-captain in the tournament. In January 2014, BCCI appointed Sanju as vice-captain of team India for the 2014 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He was the top run-scorer for India in the tournament with a highest score of 85 runs from 45 balls against Papua New Guinea.
He scored moderately in the 2012–13 Vijay Hazare Trophy in which Kerala featured in the semi-finals. He scored his maiden first-class century against Himachal Pradesh in the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy, as he scored 127 runs off 207 balls. He was Kerala's highest run-getter in 2013-14 Ranji Trophy season scoring 530 runs at an average of 58.88. In his first match of the 2013–14 season against Assam he scored a career-best 211 to bring up his first double century in Ranji Trophy. In the second match against Andhra Pradesh he scored 115 from 281 balls in the 1st innings followed by 51not-out in the second innings. He was named in South Zone's squad to play in the 2013–14 Deodhar Trophy in March 2014. On the Australia A Team Quadrangular Series in 2014, he finished as India A's highest run-scorer with 244 runs from seven innings, with an average of 81.33. He scored his second first-class double century in the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy. He was named in South Zone's squad to play in the 2014–15 Deodhar Trophy in November 2014.
He started the next Ranji season scoring a 154 against Jammu and Kashmir but again failed to impress the rest of the season. He was issued a show-cause notice by Kerala Cricket Association for alleged acts of indiscipline during a match in the tournament.
In November 2017, he was appointed as the captain of the Board President's XI, replacing an injured Naman Ojha for a two-day tour match against Sri Lanka. He scored a century against the visiting team ending the match in a draw.
In August 2018, he was one of eight players that were fined by the Kerala Cricket Association, after showing dissent against Kerala's captain, Sachin Baby.
In September 2019, he scored 91 runs off 48 balls in the fifth unofficial List-A match between India A and South Africa A team and was awarded the man-of-the-match award. In October 2019, during the 2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy match between Kerala and Goa, Sanju doubled his maiden List-A century. It was the second-fastest double hundred and the fastest by an Indian in the format. It was also the highest total made by a wicket-keeper in a List-A match with an unbeaten 212 runs from 129 balls. His partnership of 338 runs with Kerala skipper Sachin Baby in the match is the highest in List-A cricket for Indian cricket and the third highest in the format. The impact made from this innings went on to earn him a national call-up after four years, as he was selected to play the Bangladesh series that followed.
He was named the captain of Kerala ahead of the 2020–21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Kerala played the quarter-finals of the 2021-22 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and 2021-22 Vijay Hazare Trophy under his leadership.
In September 2022, he was named captain of the India A squad playing a 3 ODI-series against New Zealand A cricket team. India whitewashed New Zealand, with Samson being the highest run-getter of the series.
In October 2020, he was named in India's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for their series against Australia. On 9 November 2020, he was added to India's One Day International (ODI) squad, also for their series against Australia. He played all the three Twenty20s but flattered to deceive. He was dropped from India's Twenty20 International squad for their next series against England.
In June 2021, he was named in India's One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) squads for their series against Sri Lanka. He made his ODI debut on 23 July 2021 in the dead rubber third ODI playing run-a-ball innings of 46 and ended on the losing team. He disappointed with the bat in the T20 series in which a depleted Team India lost to Sri Lanka 2–1 with Samson scoring only 34 runs. He missed out from the Indian squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, held in October 2021, because of his poor form in T20s.
In June 2022, he was named in India's squad for the first T20I of their series against England, but didn't feature in the starting eleven. In July 2022, he was named in India's ODI squad for their away series against the West Indies. He scored his maiden ODI half-century in the second match of the series. His 99-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer in the fourth wicket set the foundation for India's victory. On 29 July 2022, he was added to India's Twenty 20 International (T20I) squad, also for their series against West Indies, after KL Rahul tested positive for COVID-19 and scored 30* and 15 in the last two matches respectively. The same month, he was named in India's One Day International (ODI) squad for their series against Zimbabwe. In the second ODI against Zimbabwe, he scored an unbeaten 43 and took three catches and was declared the man of the match.
In October 2022, he was named in India's squad against South Africa for three ODIs. He scored an unbeaten 86 runs off 63 balls in the first ODI, but ended up in the losing team. But India managed to turn things around in next two ODIs with Samson unbeaten on 30 and 2 respectively. He was not selected for 2022 T20 World Cup. In December 2022, he was selected for T20I series against Sri Lanka but scored only 5 runs in first match and got ruled out for remaining two matches due to an injury in his left knee while attempting to field a ball near the boundary ropes during the 1st T20I. In June 2023, he was named in ODI and T20I series for West Indies tour. He scored 51 off 41 balls in third ODI but had a rough T20I series where he scored 12,7 and 13 respectively and did not get to bat in third and fourth matches. He was also selected for next T20I away series against Ireland and scored 40 off 26 balls in second T20I.
On 30 November 2023, he was selected in India's squad for the 3 match ODI series against South Africa. He scored his maiden hundred in the third ODI of the series scoring 108 off 114 balls which proved to be match winning as India won the series decider by 78 runs. He was adjudged with man of the match award.
On 30 April 2024, he was selected in India's 15 member Squad for the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup to be held in United States and West Indies which they won.
In October 2024, he was named in India's squad for the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh. In the third match of the series, he scored his maiden T20I century, registering 111 runs off 47 balls and contributing to India's victory. During the innings, he set multiple records, including the second-fastest century by an Indian batter in T20Is, the fastest fifty by an Indian wicketkeeper-batter against Bangladesh, and the highest individual score by an Indian batter against Bangladesh in T20Is.
He was also selected for the 4 match T20I series in South Africa tour. He scored 107 runs out of 50 balls, including 7 fours and 10 sixes in the 1st match, being the first Indian batter to score centuries in consecutive matches. He has also become the first Indian wicket-keeper batter to score a century in T20I in South Africa soil. He also scored another century in the 4th T20I, scoring unbeaten 109 of 56 balls with 6 fours and 9 sixes to his name making his century tally to 3 in T20 internationals. Along with Tilak Varma who scored another century he put up a record unbeaten 210 run 2nd wicket partnership to guide India to mammoth total of 283 in the 4th T20.
By scoring his 3rd T20 century against South Africa on 15 November 2024, Sanju became the batsman with most centuries in a calendar year in T20 Internationals, which is 3.
On 1 March 2026 against the West Indies in a deciding Super 8 match during the 2026 T20 World Cup, Samson hit his first 50+ score in the competition, hitting an unbeaten 97 off 50 balls and hitting 12 fours and 4 sixes as India scored 199/5 in 19.2 overs, successfully chasing down the target of 196 set by the West Indies, which was the highest target successfully chased by India in T20 World Cups. He won the Player of the Match award for his match-winning knock.
In the semi-final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup held on 5 March 2026, Sanju Samson scored a rapid 89 runs off 42 balls against England, helping India post a massive total of 253 in the knockout stage. His innings played a key role in setting up a challenging target for England. Samson was adjudged the Player of the Match, marking his second consecutive award following his performance against the West Indies.
In the finals of T20 World Cup 2026, played in Ahmedabad, Sanju Samson scored 89 of 46 balls against New Zealand. With that he became the 3rd highest run scoring batsman in the tournament, with a total of 321 runs. Subsequently, Samson was named as the Player of the tournament, despite only featuring in 5 games.
Sanju Samson was named the ICC Men's Player of the Month for March 2026 following a defining performance in India's successful defense of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup title. This recognition highlighted his crucial role in the tournament victory.
| 2013 | 206 |
| 339 | |
| 204 | |
| 2016 | 291 |
| 386 | |
| 2018 | 441 |
| 342 | |
| 375 | |
| 484 | |
| 458 | |
| 362 | |
| 531 | |
| 285 | |
| 2026 | Chennai Super Kings |
| 4704 |
Samson was named by Kolkata Knight Riders in its player pool ahead of 2009 Indian Premier League. He was signed by Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of 2012 Indian Premier League but did not get to play and was released ahead of the 2013 season. He was signed to play for Rajasthan Royals in 2013. He made his IPL debut for Rajasthan against Kings XI Punjab on 14 April 2013 after the regular wicket-keeper Dishant Yagnik failed to recover from an injury. In his second match, he scored 63 runs from 41 balls, becoming the then youngest player in IPL to score a half-century. He won the Emerging Player award of 2013 season with 206 runs and six stumpings from 10 innings.
Samson made his Champions League Twenty20 debut for Rajasthan Royals against the Mumbai Indians on 21 September 2013 and scored 54 off 47 balls, becoming the youngest player to score a half-century in CLT20. He was retained by Rajasthan ahead of the 2014 season.
In 2016, Delhi Capitals signed Samson after Rajasthan was banned from the competition for two years after being found guilty in illegal betting and match-fixing probe. He scored his maiden T20 century against Rising Pune Supergiants during the 2017 Indian Premier League.
He returned to Rajasthan in the 2018 IPL auction He scored his second IPL century in the next season, hitting an unbeaten 102* against Sunrisers Hyderabad. During the 2020 season, Sanju scored a 32-ball 74 against Chennai Super Kings. He led Rajasthan to the highest successful run chase in IPL history with 85 runs from 42 balls against Kings XI Punjab in the next match. He played his 100th IPL match, later in the season.
In January 2021, Samson was named the captain of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the 2021 Indian Premier League. He scored a century in his first match as captain, becoming the first IPL captain to achieve the feat. He completed 3000 runs in IPL later in the season.
In November 2021, he was retained by Rajasthan Royals ahead of the 2022 Indian Premier League. Samson surpassed Ajinkya Rahane to become the all-time leading run-scorer for Rajasthan during the season. Rajasthan went on to play the finals and finished as the runners-up under his leadership.
In 2023, he played as a captain of Rajasthan Royals and scored 362 runs with 3 half centuries in season and finished 5th on points table.
In 2024, Rajasthan Royals won 8 matches out of their first 9 matches under his leadership. He individually scored 531 runs out of 16 matches with 5 half centuries, which is considered the best season for him. In this season, Rajasthan Royals ended up the league stage at 3rd on points table, and went on to Qualifier 2 but defeated by Sunrisers Hyderabad by 36 runs.
Sanju Samson was officially traded to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by Rajasthan Royals on November 15, 2025, ahead of the IPL 2026 season. In this high-profile trade, CSK traded away Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran to RR to acquire Samson.
His power has been compared to powerful stroke-makers such as Rohit Sharma and AB de Villiers who can middle the ball to play shots with seemingly minimal effort. His batting style has been described as "fearless" in Twenty20 cricket. However, he has a weakness in rotating strike.
He is also an athletic fielder who is flexible to field in any position.
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