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2 min readUpdated: Feb 17, 2026 04:32 PM IST
India's Ishan Kishan plays a shot during the T20 World Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Ishan Kishan’s 77-run knock stood out as the definitive contribution for India in their thrashing of Pakistan in Colombo in an ICC T20 World Cup group game.
While the innings seemed to be indicative of the swashbuckling, no-holds-barred batting of the left-hander, former India assistant coach Sanjay Bangar believes that there was a calculative element to Kishan’s batting.
Bangar said that Kishan coming in at the top of the order, and having the freedom to take risks have factored heavily in his success over the last few T20I games.
“To bat like Ishan Kishan, the way he did against Pakistan, I believe there have to be a couple of factors that have to be to your advantage. Number one, he is batting at the top of the order. He has the backing of the team to go out and play by taking a lot of risks, which, at the moment, are coming off,” said Banger on ‘Follow the Blues’.
“Number two, he is the man in form, and T20 cricket is basically for form players. So he is maximizing whatever form that he has. There is a method in which he dominated. It isn’t that he was targeting each and every bowler,”
Bangar then spoke about how Kishan targeted Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi. The 1992 World Cup winners, once known for the battery of pacers they produced, gave only two overs to their frontline bowler in the loss to India. In one of those overs, Kishan took him apart.
“Even till the fourth over, he first attacked Shaheen Shah Afridi in the second over, then gave respect to the off-spinners, and when the leg-spinners came, he took them to the cleaners. So all in all, a very calculative innings. I must say that even though he was getting the majority of the strike, he was farming the strike pretty well and made those 77 possible out of the 88 runs that were there on the scoreboard,” said Bangar.
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India next play Namibia on Wednesday, with a path to the Super 8s already well and truly cleared.
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