T20 World Cup: Opener’s fiery 77 means India-Pak tie is no contest again, SKY’s side win by 61 runs

On February 9, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced its list of 30 centrally contracted players for the 2025-26 season. Notably absent from all three categories was Ishan Kishan, and less than a week later, he played a blinder to sink Pakistan in a World Cup match.

It has been a funny old time for Ishan. For nearly two years, he was out of the Indian team before making a comeback in the T20I series against New Zealand ahead of this tournament. It was not so much that he was out of the mix but that his name did not even seriously figure in discussions.

At the end of 2023, when India toured South Africa, KL Rahul was handed the big gloves, even if temporarily, and this began Ishan’s slide. In the squad but out of the playing eleven, Ishan asked for a break, and this did not go down well.


Ishan was told to play domestic cricket, but he chose to train in Baroda with Hardik Pandya instead. A disappointing Indian Premier League season meant he was not retained by the Mumbai Indians. From then on, there was only one way back, and Ishan realised this, playing all the domestic cricket he could, starting with the Buchi Babu tournament in Chennai and the DY Patil competition in Mumbai.

Critically, time away from the international treadmill gave Ishan time, space and reason to introspect. “I’m a changed man now,” Ishan said, soon after making his comeback and performing once more. “I don’t get into it too much. I do enjoy jokes and everything, I still do it. But earlier, I used to do it 24×7. Now, let’s say it’s only a few hours a day. More time and energy have been spent concentrating on my batting and wicketkeeping.”

The results came thick and fast, so much so that Ishan established himself at the top of the order, comfortably shading Sanju Samson--both as a batsman and as wicketkeeper. That he would emerge as the pocket powerhouse behind India’s early matches in the World Cup was a big bonus.

Another such piece of fortune was Pakistan’s decisionmaking at the toss. Pakistan, having stacked their bowling attack with five spinners, who eventually bowled 18 overs between them, had little choice but to bowl first once they won the toss. If there was dew in the second half of the game, under lights, it would have been too much of an ask for their spinners to grip the ball.

But the Premadasa Stadium is not a ground where chasing is easy, as the surface gets slower and lower. There was a bit for the bowlers in the first innings too, with the ball stopping and coming, as Abhishek Sharma discovered in the very first over, mis-hitting to mid-on for his second duck of the tournament.

The need of the hour was a quick read of the conditions, but Ishan did not believe that conservatism was the best approach for his team. Shaheen Shah Afridi banged one in short, and Ishan was through the pull shot in a flash, as though he was expecting exactly that delivery. The ball crashed into the big screen on the square leg fence, and Ishan was under way.

Ishan’s love for the leg side continued against the slow bowlers, a crisply executed sweep off Abrar Ahmed sailing comfortably into the stands over fine leg. When Ishan attacked, he was fully committed to the stroke, and even the long boundaries at the Premadasa Stadium were no match for his power.

The risk with committing to shots early when the ball is not quite coming on was apparent when an Ishan insideedge narrowly missed the stumps and ran away past the ’keeper for a boundary. But that blemish aside, Ishan took the innings by storm.

Tilak Varma, not at his best, had a great view of the action from the non-striker’s end. He fed Ishan the strike, and boundaries came with stunning regularity. Ishan was willing to wait for the right ball to hit, but his patience was not tested. Routinely, there were errors in length, and this allowed Ishan to play the horizontal bat shots with minimal risk.

Ishan raced away and had made 77 of India’s 88 when he fell in the ninth over. By then, though, with three sixes and 10 fours, the left-hander had done enough to propel India to a comfortable 175 for 7. From there on, the bowlers only had to apply pressure, allowing the occasion and the long boundaries to do their bit. Pakistan’s batsmen never looked like they had a plan, and when they crumbled to 114 all out, India had sealed their entry into the Super 8s.