“I am the type of person who does much better for others than doing things better for myself,” Samson said at the India Today Conclave in New Delhi. “In that series [against New Zealand], I was competing with my own people and I was not very comfortable with it.

“I was too desperate knowing that my dream is so near. But was the team still trying some combinations? So, is Sanju there or not there? That kind of feeling played in my mind at that time.”

Samson was left out of the XI that started the T20 World Cup, with Ishan Kishan picked to open with Abhishek Sharma. Abhishek’s illness gave Samson an opportunity against Namibia, but he was left out again once the former returned.

“I was absolutely broken because my dream was to win the World Cup and I was not even in the XI. I had gone away for five-six days and I started rebuilding myself, started preparing myself, knowing you never know what the game wants to give back to you.”

“I knew the team management had trust in me,” Samson said. “When the World Cup came in, I figured out what the team wants from you, so that is the mindset change which happened in my head.

“Right from the Zimbabwe game, we had to win four out of four matches and the team needs you. So that’s when it became very positive for me, and I was very fired up. It wasn’t the start I wanted, but still, I was happy because the team was doing well and we were still winning the game.

“Obviously, I had a dream that I wanted to be a world champion one day and it’s just not about one trophy, as it’s all about how many trophies I can win for my country and that’s all I play for.”