Sanju Samson has achieved another success. The Kerala wicketkeeper-batter has performed well during his batting career but he has not been able to maintain steady performance which resulted in damage to his professional standing. The same trend continues. Samson has performed excellently during the knockout rounds of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 which earned him the Player of the Tournament award but he has not succeeded in his first matches of Indian Premier League 2026.

Samson joined Chennai Super Kings for a record Rs 18 crore after spending multiple seasons with Rajasthan Royals before IPL 2026. Fans welcomed his arrival with high expectations considering his strong white-ball form and IPL experience as both captain and batter. The player has failed to fulfill his expected performance standards during his three appearances with the five-time champions.

Samson's annual path through his life journey faced multiple important milestones and major difficulties. At the end of the last year he stood as the only Indian player who had achieved three T20I centuries but Shubman Gill took his starting role before the Asia Cup 2025. Jitesh Sharma received selection as the team's primary wicketkeeper which forced Samson to develop his skills for a new batting role that he had never practiced. The World Cup selectors chose him for the squad after they had witnessed his unsatisfactory performance in the New Zealand national cricket team series.

After he missed the first match against the USA Samson did not think he would be important to the team. He scored a total of 46 runs between two matches against Namibia and Zimbabwe because he made 22 runs and 24 runs. He showed his best performance during the most critical moments of the event. He won Player of the Series because his match-winning performances included scores of 97*, 89, and 89 against the West Indies cricket team during Super 8 and the England cricket team during the semi-final and the New Zealand national cricket team during the final. He achieved 321 runs through five batting innings while maintaining an 80.25 average and a 199.37 strike rate.

Most people believed Samson would maintain his current performance throughout the IPL season but this prediction has not come true. He played his first match for CSK but he scored only 6 runs from 7 balls against his previous team RR. He played against PBKS and scored 7 runs from 7 balls before he ended up with 9 runs against RCB. The Kerala star lost his wicket during the powerplay in all three matches. His current average for CSK in IPL 2026 stands at 22 from three matches, which fails to show his actual batting skills after he performed well in the World Cup.