Hardik Pandya sounded pleased enough after another big win, yet he kept circling back to the pitch. India posted 209 for 6 against Namibia in Delhi – their highest T20 World Cup total in terms of winning margin – but the all-rounder felt runs had to be eked out rather than raced to.
“Two back-to-back pitches haven’t been batting-friendly,” Pandya said as he collected the Player-of-the-Match award. “Wicket was holding a bit today. You just adapt and let your skill-set work. We’d like a little more flatter wickets.”
India’s top order adjusted fairly smoothly, rattling up 120 in the first ten overs. The second half of the innings was far stickier: only 89 arrived, with five wickets tumbling for four runs at the death. Even so, the total proved far beyond Namibia, who were dismissed for 103.
From the outside, the surface looked a belter while Ishan Kishan was in full flow, but the left-hander insisted it was “wasn’t that easy” once pace came off the ball. At his post-match press call, Kishan underlined how sharply Namibia’s seamers hit their lengths.
“In both the wickets, I feel it was a bit different from what we expected to happen,” he said. “And today, looking at the death overs, when we were not able to regularly hit big sixes, I think we need to also give credit to Namibia bowlers because they were bang on with their yorkers, they were bang on with their slower ones.”
Kishan happily filed the experience under useful homework rather than cause for alarm. “So yeah, it was a good learning,” he added. “Maybe if some other team is doing the same thing, maybe we can use the crease more or we can do something different, which can irritate the bowler. So it was a good learning in this game and especially I think it was not about our batters not being able to hit sixes, but it was more of them bowling very well in the death overs.”
India now move on with four points from two games, hoping for truer surfaces but quietly satisfied that even on holding pitches they can pile up 200-plus.
