India made the Super Eights the straightforward way on Sunday night, seeing off Pakistan by 61 runs at the Premadasa. The win owed plenty to Ishan Kishan’s rapid 77 from 40 balls – an innings that felt even quicker on a surface that gripped and turned almost from ball one.
Kishan’s reputation has long rested on heavy leg-side hitting, yet on this tacky pitch he kept finding room through the covers and point. Afterwards he explained why:
“I did work a lot on my off-side game,” Kishan said after winning the Player-of-the-Match award. “It will give me the balls where I want them [opposition bowlers] to bowl if I play good shots on the off side. So, I was just trying to hit the gaps because it’s a big boundary and when it’s a big ground, you get bigger gaps.”
A 27-ball half-century set India up for 175 for 7, well above what looked par when Abhishek Sharma nicked off first ball of the match. Kishan kept going, clipping spin into wide spaces, occasionally dragging pace over mid-wicket, but mostly staying busy rather than reckless:
“So, I was just trying to keep it simple, trying to hit the gaps, trying to at least take two runs because the wicket was not easy. I had that in mind that we need to put a total like 160-170 runs and it will be a very good total for us.”
Pakistan responded by bowling 18 overs of spin – fair enough on this surface – yet Shaheen Afridi’s two overs cost 31. That proved decisive in the end.
India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav liked what he saw once the early wobble settled:
“Ishan thought something out of the box. After 0 for 1, there had to be someone taking responsibility in the powerplay,” Suryakumar said. “He took that responsibility and he was amazing.”
A tiny stutter followed through overs 7-15, prompting the skipper to add: “We were very ahead in the powerplay. There was a little bit of slump between [overs] 7-15, but that’s the beauty of T20 cricket.”
Still, 175 looked imposing the moment Jasprit Bumrah pinged back Sahibzada Farhan’s off stump with the second ball of Pakistan’s chase. Hardik Pandya had Saim Ayub chopping on next over, and when captain Salman Agha sliced Bumrah to point it was 13 for 3. In these conditions that was realistically that.
Kishan handed out credit where due:
“I think they bowled tremendously well,” he said of Bumrah and Hardik. “When I was batting [and] when Shaheen was bowling, I didn’t feel like the ball was doing much for the pace bowlers. But at the same time looking at them bowl two beautiful overs… so, yeah it was a plus point for us and especially we know how Jassi [Jasprit Bumrah] can bowl whether he has a new ball in his hand and whether he’s bowling in the death overs. Credit goes to Hardik Panya for keeping it on the tight areas, bowling what we planned before the game and executing his plans pretty well.”
Bumrah finished with 3 for 18, Pandya 2 for 24, and Pakistan limped to 114 all out with nearly three overs unused. It was clinical without being flashy – perhaps an early sign India have found the balance needed for the later stages.
As for Kishan, the off-side drill has already bought him runs and maybe another game plan for opposing captains to worry about.
