ICC T20 World Cup: How did Ishan Kishan turn his worst match-up into 77 off 40 against Pakistan?

Pakistan’s plans lay in ruins. This wasn’t supposed to happen, not to off-spinners. Not in the Powerplay. Not against Ishan. The numbers had pointed to something altogether different. Against off-spinners in the Powerplay, Ishan’s strike rate drops to 120.67 with four dismissals. In 69 innings, there had been 151 dot deliveries. It’s been his Achilles heel, the ‘weakness’ opposition teams circle in red on their match-up charts.

Pakistan had done their homework. With Abhishek Sharma, Ishan and Tilak Varma, three left-handers in India’s top order, the match-up was perfect. Salman Ali Agha, Abrar, Saim Ayub – three off-spinners were ready to exploit the perceived flaw. What they got instead was 77 runs scored off 40 balls. Ten fours, three sixes, strike rate 192.5.

7⃣7⃣ Runs
4⃣0⃣ Deliveries
🔟 Fours
3⃣ Sixes

What an incredible knock from Ishan Kishan! 🙌 💪

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It didn’t start smoothly though. The first over was tentative. But when Shaheen Shah Afridi pitched one short, Ishan deposited him over square leg and something shifted. A streaky boundary followed – the only time all evening that luck played a part. After that, it was conviction.

Ishan’s first two boundaries off Agha and Saim were powered through, but questions still lingered about whether this was sustainable. Then came Abrar’s second over and the doubts evaporated. The spinner watched helplessly as the ball sailed over square-leg for six. Next ball, Ishan unleashed a fierce cut to a short delivery bowled in desperation.

Backing himself

After a quiet first over, the Premadasa was witnessing what this Indian line-up does in a Powerplay to settle matches before they’ve properly begun. The pattern at this venue had been consistent. Teams get off to flying starts, then consolidate through the middle overs. Run rates settle, boundaries become scarce, batsmen content themselves with singles and twos. The sensible way, the percentage play on a surface where the ball grips and turns.

But Ishan, blood pumping and confidence soaring, wasn’t interested in percentages. That became obvious in the 14 deliveries that followed the timeout. Three boundaries in three balls off Abrar, each one different. The guide through third man was precision. The whip to long-on was power. The inside-out drive over covers was audacity. Then Shadab Khan was taken apart for 17 in his first over. It didn’t matter what Pakistan threw at him anymore. Off-spinner, leg-spinner, mystery spinner- Ishan was seeing them all clearly, picking them all cleanly.

The match-up that was supposed to strangle him was leaking boundaries. And crucially, he wasn’t even targeting the shorter boundary at the Premadasa. He was targeting every part, in complete command.

The knock lasted nine overs. When it ended, India’s total looked imposing. But more than the runs, more than the strike rate, Ishan had achieved something bigger.

He’d taken a weakness that had been identified, studied, and targeted, and turned it into his strength. There’s something about confronting what troubles one the most. The bowlers one struggles against, the deliveries one can’t pick, the match-ups where percentages aren’t in favour. One can avoid them, work around them, hope someone else handles them. Or one can do what Ishan did on Sunday – stand there and smash them out of the ground.

Three times in a row, just to make sure everyone got the message. Pakistan had arrived at the Premadasa with a plan built on data and logic. Ishan had arrived with something numbers couldn’t measure – the willingness to face his weakness and make it disappear.

The weakness, it turned out, wasn’t a weakness at all. Not anymore. Not after Sunday night in Colombo, when off-spinners in the Powerplay learned they’d need a new plan for Ishan Kishan.