Sanju Samson admitted he followed Virat Kohli’s lifestyle advice for around 18 months before giving up on it entirely. The wicketkeeper-batter revealed the details during an appearance on JioStar’s Believe programme, where he spoke about a gym conversation with Kohli during an Indian team camp that shaped, and then reshaped, his approach to fitness and career.
Samson, who was India’s leading run-scorer and Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup 2026 with 321 runs, recalled asking Kohli directly for guidance. The exchange, by his own account, was typically Kohli: blunt, specific, and built around a 10-year commitment to discipline.
“He told me that lifestyle plays a huge role. If you want to become an international cricketer, you must maintain a different kind of lifestyle. He shared what works for him on his journey and told me, ‘This food will help your body recover, this would not. If you maintain this discipline for the next 10 years, you will have a great career ahead.’ I started following it for a year, a year, and a half, but after that, I could not stay on track with that anymore.”
Sanju Samson, JioStar’s Believe, July 2026
Samson described Kohli as someone with “a different fire” inside the gym. He said Kohli is very clear and straightforward, and if something needs to be done, he will tell you exactly what is required.
The admission is significant because Samson is not a fringe player reflecting on what could have been. He is a World Cup winner speaking from the other side of the debate. He tried the Kohli blueprint, could not sustain it, found his own way, and still delivered when it mattered most.
Sanju Samson scored 321 runs in the T20 World Cup 2026, including consecutive half-centuries from the virtual quarterfinal against West Indies through the final against New Zealand. He was dropped for the Zimbabwe tour that followed.
Samson’s Decision to Step Away From the Rat Race
The lifestyle admission was not an isolated moment of candour. It connected directly to a broader shift in how Samson now approaches his career and his place in Indian cricket.
He spoke about refusing to participate in the selection anxiety that defines most Indian cricketers’ lives. Before the 2026 T20 World Cup, Samson had lost his spot as the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter to Ishan Kishan. He was not in the 14 or 15-man squad at one point. Instead of chasing his way back through the conventional route of proving fitness benchmarks and impressing selectors, he made a decision.
“I realised that there is a constant rat race in our country, and I decided before the 2026 T20 World Cup that I would not be part of it. I just want to enjoy the game. By God’s grace, I have achieved a lot. I am 31 now, and I have a few years left. So, I have decided to play on my own terms. No one will tell me how to bat or what to do. Sanju will decide for Sanju.”
Sanju Samson, JioStar’s Believe, July 2026
Samson said he did not even expect to play in the 2026 World Cup after missing out on the squad initially. Planning for the 2028 edition, he said, is not something he is willing to do. If the team needs him and he is playing well, things will fall into place. If not, he is deeply grateful for what he has already achieved.
The pattern is clear. The same player who could not sustain Kohli’s lifestyle template also refused to sustain the pressure template that Indian cricket demands. Both decisions led to the same place: playing on his own terms.
Insider Read
Kohli’s fitness at 37 is not just the best in Indian cricket. It is arguably the best across the sport, period. No young player in the current setup, at 22 or 25, looks as fit or as conditioned as Kohli does deep into his career. That is not genetics. That is the result of controlling everything: body, emotions, cravings, sleep, recovery, diet, and doing all of it with consistency for over a decade.
That consistency is the part people underestimate. Following Kohli’s diet for a month is not difficult. Most professional cricketers can do it during a training camp when the environment is controlled and the meals are laid out. The difficulty is doing it at home, during off-seasons, during IPL travel weeks, during festival months when the food around you is everything the diet says no to. It means saying no to your body’s cravings every single day, managing emotional eating, and maintaining the same schedule whether you scored a century yesterday or got out for a duck.
Samson lasted 18 months. That is longer than most would. But the reason Kohli’s routine looks different from the outside is because the commitment behind it is different. It is not a phase or an experiment. It is a lifestyle that demands total control, and very few cricketers in the history of the game have maintained that level of discipline for as long as Kohli has.
What Samson’s honesty reveals is not a failure. It is a recognition that Kohli’s path is Kohli’s path. Following it requires becoming a different person, not just a fitter one.
View this post on Instagram
In 66 T20Is, Samson has scored 1,432 runs at an average of 27.01 and a strike rate of 155.99. In 16 ODIs, he averages 56.66 with 510 runs. The Sanju Samson Virat Kohli lifestyle conversation will follow him, but his World Cup numbers suggest his own approach delivered results that someone else’s template never guaranteed.
Sources:
Press release via Deccan Chronicle, July 28, 2026
Also Read:
Sanju Samson Dropped for Zimbabwe Tour After T20 World Cup Heroics
Ashwin on Why Gambhir Dropped Sanju Samson
Ashwin Reacts to Sanju Samson Being Dropped
Aakash Chopra on Sanju Samson
Morne Morkel Backs Sanju Samson
Gavaskar on Vihari, Abhishek Sharma, and Samson
Kaif Says Kohli Was Not Wanted in India Team
Nasser Hussain’s Kohli Tribute at Lord’s
Shubman Gill on India’s Fitness and Injuries
