‘He speaks to me in Punjabi’ – Abhishek Sharma reveals Sanju Samson’s fascinating multilingual skills

Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson (Photo by Matthew Lewis-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

Abhishek Sharma has revealed that his fellow opening partner Sanju Samson speaks to him in his local language, Punjabi, while the two batters are playing together. This is despite Samson hailing from a non-familiar state of Kerala, located thousands of miles away from Abhishek’s homeland, Punjab.

Samson’s multilingual nature is extremely beneficial in the Indian squad, where there are players coming from every part of the country. The Kerala-born player, who will be seen playing for Chennai Super Kings in 2026, uses his talent on the field with Abhishek to communicate effortlessly.

“There’s no language barrier anytime we have spoken. Whenever he speaks to me, he tries to speak in Punjabi. I think he is very good in Punjabi. It starts with English probably, then Hindi, and once I’m feeling a little bit tense or emotional, the Punjabi comes out. I ask, ‘Sanju bhai, uda dhoon’, and he says, ‘haan haan chak de chak de’,” said Abhishek in presence of Samson during the India Today Conclave.

Abhishek also praised the wicketkeeper-batter’s personality, which gives him assurance that there is always someone on or off the pitch to guide him if required.

Sanju bhai… is a very sorted, very loving guy, very caring guy. Once you have these kinds of players in your team, you feel like you have someone behind you. On and off the field, someone to support you, so that’s always been Sanju Samson for us,” he added.

Notably, the opening partnership between Samson and Abhishek played a vital role during the 2026 T20 World Cup final against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Batting first, the pair registered a 98-run partnership off just 7.1 overs to set India on course to a massive first innings score, which eventually resulted in the Men in Blue securing a 96-run victory to lift the trophy.

The duo has complemented each other brilliantly for the Men in Blue in the shortest format of the game. It particularly helps when one is a left-handed batter while the other is a right-hander. The pair also share a very similar style of batting which does not allow any opposition bowler to settle down and dictate the play in the opening overs.

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