Sanju Samson Biography: Age, Wife, Stats & Net Worth

Who Is Sanju Samson?

Sanju Samson (born 11 November 1994, Thiruvananthapuram) is a 31-year-old Indian wicketkeeper-batter who plays for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL and for Kerala in domestic cricket. He was named Player of the Tournament at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 after scoring 321 runs, the most by an Indian in a single edition. He is married to Charulatha Remesh, and his estimated net worth is ₹85–100 crore.

Samson’s journey from a talented but often overlooked domestic prospect to World Cup match-winner is one of Indian cricket’s most compelling comeback stories. This biography covers his age, height, family, wife, IPL career and stats, international record, net worth and achievements.

Sanju Samson Quick Facts (Age, Height, Wife, Teams)

Sanju Samson Nicknames: Chettan, Bappa ji and More

Samson is known by several names, and no single one is official. Kerala supporters call him “Chettan” or “Chetta”, a Malayalam term of affection for an elder brother, and it is the nickname listed on his Wikipedia profile. Other reported nicknames include “Bappa ji” and “Bappu”, the latter of which he has said few people know. “Saju” is also used as a short form of his first name, and teammates and commentators mostly just say “Sanju”.

Sanju Samson Early Life and Family

Sanju Viswanath Samson was born on 11 November 1994 in Pulluvila, a small coastal village near Vizhinjam in the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, into a Malayali Christian family. His father, Samson Viswanath, worked as a Delhi Police constable and was formerly a footballer who represented Delhi in the Santosh Trophy. His mother, Lijy Viswanath (also spelt Ligy), is a homemaker, and his elder brother, Saly Samson, played junior cricket for Kerala and now works in the Accountant General’s office.

Samson has said his father’s football background shaped his sporting upbringing. As a boy he reportedly dreamt of becoming an IPS officer, and his family settled in Kerala in 2006 after his father took voluntary retirement from the Delhi Police.

Samson took his first cricket lessons in Delhi, where his father was posted, and moved to Thiruvananthapuram in his early teens. He captained Kerala’s Under-13 side and, in one inter-state tournament, scored 973 runs with four centuries in five matches. He made his first-class debut for Kerala in November 2011, at the age of 17.

His India Under-19 career began poorly: he made just 14 runs in three innings at the 2012 Asia Cup and missed that year’s Under-19 World Cup squad. He bounced back with a century in the final of the 2013 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup against Pakistan, was named vice-captain for the 2014 Under-19 World Cup and finished as India’s top run-scorer there.

Sanju Samson Height, Weight and Age

As of October 2026, Sanju Samson is 31 years old and turns 32 on 11 November 2026. He stands 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) tall. His weight is not officially published, and fan sites list figures anywhere from about 62 kg to 75 kg. He bats right-handed, keeps wicket and occasionally bowls off-spin.

Sanju Samson Wife: Charulatha Remesh

Sanju Samson married Charulatha Remesh on 22 December 2018 in a private ceremony in Kovalam, near Thiruvananthapuram. The couple met as classmates at Mar Ivanios College and dated for several years before marrying. Charulatha is an HR professional and entrepreneur who largely stays away from media attention. She briefly drew public attention on 1 March 2026, when a video call between her and Samson went viral after his unbeaten 97 against the West Indies at the T20 World Cup. As per publicly available information, the couple does not have children.

Family at a glance: his father Samson Viswanath, mother Lijy Viswanath, elder brother Saly Samson and wife Charulatha Remesh. Samson is based in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, and lives in Chennai during the IPL season.

Sanju Samson Hobbies, Favourites, Cars and Lifestyle

Away from cricket, Samson’s reported hobbies are reading, football and travelling. The football link runs in the family: his father played for Delhi, and Samson is a long-time football fan. Lifestyle details such as favourites and cars are drawn from profile sites like StarsUnfolded and are not officially confirmed.

Sanju Samson Car Collection

Samson is reported to own a Range Rover Sport, an Audi A6, a Mercedes-Benz C-Class and a BMW 5 Series, along with a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 motorcycle. These are reported figures from lifestyle profiles, not confirmed by Samson or his management.

Six Guns Sports Academy and Kerala Blasters FC

In March 2018 Samson launched the Six Guns Sports Academy in Thiruvananthapuram to train young cricket and football talent, with selection camps across Kerala; the academy was launched by Shashi Tharoor, and his father helps coordinate it. In February 2023, Kerala Blasters FC named Samson its brand ambassador to support grassroots, community and fan initiatives. He was also reported as a Kerala election icon in 2021.

Sanju Samson Domestic Career: Kerala, Ranji Trophy and KCL

Samson made his first-class debut for Kerala on 3 November 2011 against Vidarbha, aged 17, and scored his maiden first-class century (127 against Himachal Pradesh) in 2012–13. His breakthrough came in 2013–14, when he was Kerala’s top scorer in the Ranji Trophy with 530 runs at an average of 58.88, including a double century (211) against Assam in the first match of the season. He then topped the run charts for India A on the 2014 tour of Australia with 244 runs in seven innings.

He was named captain of the Kerala Ranji team for 2015–16 at the age of 20, the youngest player to captain the state in the competition. In October 2019 he made an unbeaten 212 against Goa in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, then the highest List A score by an Indian wicketkeeper.

Samson is also the face of the Kerala Cricket League (KCL). At the KCL season 2 auction in July 2025, Kochi Blue Tigers signed him for a record ₹26.8 lakh. He scored 368 runs in six matches, including a century, as Kochi won the title, and he shared his auction fee among his teammates and coaches. He opted out of KCL season 3 in 2026, citing personal reasons.

Sanju Samson IPL Career: Teams, Captaincy and Trade to CSK

Samson was first picked by Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 but did not play a game. He made his IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals in 2013 and won the Emerging Player of the Year award that season. After two seasons at Delhi Daredevils (2016–2017), he returned to Rajasthan in 2018 and spent 11 seasons with the franchise in all (2013–2015 and 2018–2025).

He captained Rajasthan Royals from 2021 and led them to the 2022 IPL final, where they lost to Gujarat Titans. For more on where that places him, see our ranking of the best captains in IPL history. He left Rajasthan as the franchise’s all-time leading run-scorer across the IPL and Champions League T20, with 4,219 runs in 155 matches.

On 15 November 2025, Samson moved to Chennai Super Kings in a swap deal that sent Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran to Rajasthan. Samson joined at his existing fee of ₹18 crore, while Jadeja’s fee was revised to ₹14 crore and Curran’s stayed at ₹2.4 crore. CSK’s managing director described letting Jadeja go as one of the toughest decisions in the franchise’s history. Ruturaj Gaikwad captains CSK, and Samson opens the batting.

Sanju Samson IPL Stats: Career Record and Best Seasons

Samson has scored 5,181 IPL runs in 191 matches. In April 2026 he became the fastest Indian to reach 5,000 IPL runs by balls faced, and the 10th batter overall to the mark, doing so in 180 innings. For context on his longevity, see our list of the most matches played in IPL history; his glovework is covered in our ranking of the best wicketkeepers in IPL history.

Career figures as of the end of IPL 2026; check iplt20.com for the latest numbers.

Sanju Samson IPL 2026 Stats for CSK

Samson’s first season in yellow was a tale of two halves. He scored just 22 runs in his first three innings, then hit an unbeaten 115 off 56 balls against Delhi Capitals at Chepauk on 11 April. It was his fourth IPL hundred, the first for CSK and the highest score by a CSK wicketkeeper, passing MS Dhoni’s 84. On 23 April he followed it with an unbeaten 101 off 54 balls against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, powering CSK to their biggest IPL win by runs (103). An unbeaten 87 off 52 against Delhi on 5 May took him past 400 runs, and he finished as CSK’s top scorer with 477. CSK won six of 14 matches and were eliminated in the league stage.

Sanju Samson IPL 2024 Controversy: Fine for Arguing with Umpires

On 7 May 2024, in Match 56 of IPL 2024 between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, Samson was given out for 86 off 46 balls when he was caught on the boundary by Shai Hope off Mukesh Kumar. Replays were inconclusive on whether Hope’s foot had touched the rope, the third umpire upheld the on-field decision, and Samson argued with the umpires before leaving the field. The IPL fined him 30% of his match fee for a Level 1 breach of the Code of Conduct (Article 2.8). He accepted the sanction. Some profile sites quote his score in that innings as 84, but IPL and match reports record 86.

Sanju Samson T20I and ODI Stats

Samson made his T20I debut on 19 July 2015 against Zimbabwe in Harare, but his ODI debut came much later, on 23 July 2021 against Sri Lanka. His T20I breakthrough arrived in 2024: a hundred against Bangladesh in Hyderabad (111, the third-fastest T20I hundred by an Indian, according to the BCCI), followed by back-to-back centuries against South Africa on India’s tour. That made him the first player with three T20I hundreds in a calendar year. His ODI chances have been limited, with his last ODI on 21 December 2023 against South Africa.

Stats as of October 2026. Samson has kept wicket in both formats, taking 47 catches and making 8 stumpings in T20Is, and 9 catches and 2 stumpings in ODIs.

Sanju Samson T20 World Cup 2026 Stats and Records

Samson’s career peaked at the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, a run that also put him in the conversation around the top current cricketers in the world. He was not in the playing XI at the start of the tournament, but after a quiet start he became the heartbeat of India’s batting. He hit an unbeaten 97 against the West Indies at Eden Gardens in a must-win Super 8 match, 89 off 42 balls against England in the Wankhede semi-final (a seven-run win), and 89 off 46 balls in the final against New Zealand in Ahmedabad. India won the final by 96 runs to claim their third T20 World Cup title and become the first host nation to win the tournament.

Across the tournament, Samson scored 321 runs in five innings at an average of 80.25 and a strike rate of 199.37, with 27 fours and 24 sixes. That is the most runs by an Indian in a single T20 World Cup, beating Virat Kohli’s 319 in 2014, and the most sixes by any batter in one edition. He scored 178 of those runs in the semi-final and final, more than any batter has made in those two games in a single edition, and his 89 in the final is the highest score in a T20 World Cup final. Only Mahela Jayawardene (2010) had previously scored three consecutive 80-plus scores in one edition.

Sahibzada Farhan of Pakistan scored more runs overall (383), but Samson was named Player of the Tournament after just five games, equalling Kohli (2016) for the fewest games needed to win the award. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised his performances, and the Kerala government announced it would felicitate him.

Sanju Samson Net Worth, IPL Salary and Endorsements

Sanju Samson’s estimated net worth in 2026 is ₹85–100 crore (roughly $10 million), according to a March 2026 estimate by Gulf News. CricTracker’s 2024–25 estimate was lower, at ₹78–86 crore. Estimates vary because neither Samson nor the BCCI discloses his private earnings. His income comes mainly from IPL contracts, BCCI central contract payments, brand endorsements and investments.

He has reportedly invested in real estate, including a bungalow in Thiruvananthapuram valued at about ₹6 crore, and has endorsed brands such as Gillette, BharatPe, SG and Club Mahindra. His business interests include the Six Guns Sports Academy, and he is Kerala Blasters FC’s brand ambassador. In 2018 he donated ₹15 lakh to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Relief Fund after the state’s floods.

Sanju Samson Records and Achievements

Samson holds several notable individual records across formats:

• Player of the Tournament, 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, won after just five games.
• Most runs by an Indian in a single T20 World Cup edition: 321 in 2026, beating Virat Kohli’s 319 in 2014.
• Most sixes by any batter in a single T20 World Cup edition: 24 in 2026.
• Highest individual score in a T20 World Cup final: 89 against New Zealand, 2026.
• First player to score three T20I centuries in a calendar year (2024), including the third-fastest T20I hundred by an Indian (111 against Bangladesh).
• Fastest Indian batter to reach 5,000 IPL runs by balls faced, and the 10th batter overall to do so (180 innings).
• Highest score by a wicketkeeper for CSK in the IPL: 115* against Delhi Capitals, 2026.
• Second batter after KL Rahul to score an IPL century for three different franchises (Delhi, Rajasthan and Chennai).
• Unbeaten 212 in the 2019 Vijay Hazare Trophy, then the highest List A score by an Indian wicketkeeper.
• Youngest player to captain Kerala in the Ranji Trophy (age 20, 2015–16).
• IPL Emerging Player of the Year, 2013.

Sanju Samson Career Stats Summary

Stats as of October 2026. A dash means the figure was not available in the sources used.

Sanju Samson’s Career So Far: Final Thoughts

Sanju Samson’s career reflects a rare mix of natural talent, patience and reinvention. From a promising but often overlooked domestic prospect, he became the Player of the Tournament at the 2026 T20 World Cup and then scored two centuries in his first season as a CSK opener. For comparison with other power-hitters, see our look at the best finishers in IPL history. With a fresh start at Chennai Super Kings and his place in India’s T20I setup, his numbers and his legacy are still being written.

Get expert Today cricket match predictions 100 sure, top picks & fantasy tips – Download AllCric App

FAQS