Kerala govt to honour T20 World Cup hero Sanju Samson with civic reception

The Kerala government will honour cricketer Sanju Samson with a civic reception, recognising his role as the “architect” of India’s march to victory in the T20 World Cup finals on Sunday (March 8, 2026). Kerala General Education Minister V. Sivankutty told reporters that the government has communicated the decision to Mr. Samson and was awaiting the cricketer’s nod.

On Monday (March 9, 2026), television camera crews descended on Mr. Samson’s hometown at Vizhinjam, a coastal neighbourhood 20 km from Thiruvananthapuram, to broadcast memories of Mr. Samson’s school days shared by his neighbours, relatives, and friends. Local residents had set up large screens on the beach to watch the finals Sunday night. The celebrations, including fireworks, continued well into the dawn. Cricket fans from across the district trickled into the church playground where Mr. Samson had practised as a schoolboy.

Townspeople recalled Mr. Samson as an aspiring sportsperson back then. “He always needed somebody to bowl to him, and we obliged. It was difficult to fox him at the nets,” a resident told reporters.

Neighbours recalled Mr. Samson carrying a heavy kit and catching buses early in the morning for practice. Occasionally, local autorickshaw drivers gave him free rides to the bus stop. 

Mr. Samson recently wrote in his school WhatsApp group: “I was 11. My kit bag felt heavier than I did. I would leave home in Vizhinjam before sunrise, take two buses, and reach the Medical College ground by 6 a.m. After practice, I’d bathe by a small ground tap, change into my school uniform, and then catch a bus to St Joseph’s… School, homework, then back again for evening nets.”

Early life lessons

Mr. Samson poignantly noted his background as a fisherfolk. His grandfather was a fisherman. “Watching him, I understood something early. You can’t control the sea. You can only control how prepared you are when you go out. Some days you come back with nothing. But you still wake up the next morning and go again. That stayed with me”, he wrote.

Reflecting on his journey, Mr. Samson wrote that it “always began with a bus” and that it was marked by “self-doubt and rejection.”

He added: “But every time I feel that doubt, I go back in my mind to that small tap at the ground. To the buses. To my parents, adjusting their lives around my practice. I remind myself that this journey was never built on comfort. It was built on consistency.” 

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called Mr. Samson an inspirational athlete. “Mr. Samson has proved that talent and hard work can propel people to heights, and no goal is beyond them,” he said. 

Shashi Tharoor, MP, said the 70th birthday he celebrated on Sunday had come early for him, given “India’s magnificent win”. “And another incredible performance, for the third match in a row, by my Thiruvananthapuram hero @IamSanjuSamson! What more could one ask for ?!!” he posted on Twitter. 

CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby visited Mr. Samson’s home in Vizhinjam. He told reporters that the World Cup win was “the greatest honour a son could gift his mother on Women’s Day”, and called Mr. Samson’s batting “riveting fireworks.”