17 February,2026 08:19 AM IST | Colombo | R Kaushik
Ishan Kishan
There was a forecast for rain at the Premadasa Stadium on Sunday night. Instead, it was a hurricane called Ishan Kishan that wreaked havoc, sweeping Pakistan aside with one of the more brutally beautiful innings of this T20 World Cup.
Pakistan packed their XI with five specialist spinners and opened the bowling with a sixth. When Pakistan skipper Salman Agha sent Abhishek Sharma packing in the first over for a blob, predictions of this being a contest between India's batters and Pakistan's tweakers seemed justified until Kishan stepped up to deliver the goods.
There is much to admire about the 27-year-old, whose leadership and batting carried Jharkhand to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title this season. At the time, Kishan was nowhere near the T20I side. But once the stars aligned to not just earn him a dramatic recall after two years but also establish him as the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter and Abhishek's opening partner, Kishan has been unstoppable.
Skipper Agha's strike buoyed Pakistan but Kishan burst the bubble in the next over with a six and an inside-edged four off Shaheen Shah Afridi. With the left-arm quick bashed out of the attack, Kishan trained his attention on the spinners.
After hammering 61 off 24 against Namibia on Thursday, Kishan acknowledged that he had grown as a person in his enforced exile from the national team. "I don't joke around 24x7 anymore, it's only 3-4 hours a day," he guffawed.
Kishan's 77 came off 40 deliveries, at a strike rate of nearly 200. He was the thoroughbred in a group of show ponies, a sleek sports car breezing past aged, ageing cabs weighed down by baggage and the unwillingness/inability to take calculated risks on a less-than-ideal batting surface.
Kishan is in the middle of a stunning, striking purple patch. Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir will be hoping the patch mushrooms into something a lot bigger over the next three weeks so that India's tilt at history is a successful, fulfilling exercise.
158
No. of runs scored by Ishan Kishan in three matches at the ongoing T20 World Cup - the second most after NZ's Tim Seifert (167 runs)
66
No. of runs smashed by Ishan Kishan against Pakistan's spinners off 37 balls. The other India batters scored a combined 78 off 71 balls vs spin
10
No. of sixes struck by Ishan Kishan at the ongoing T20 World Cup - joint-highest alongside WI's Shimron Hetmyer
192.5
Ishan Kishan's strike rate during his 40-ball 77 - the highest for a 40-plus ball innings at Colombo
