On a tacky R Premadasa surface where the ball was holding and gripping, Pakistan bowled 18 overs of spin after opting to field, the most spin used in a single T20 World Cup match. The strategy aligned perfectly with Pakistan’s blueprint for this ICC tournament, where they have thrived in Sri Lanka’s slower conditions. Moreover, India’s only visible weakness in their opening fixtures had been their vulnerability against spin.
Seven of the eight Indian batters who took the crease at Khettarama managed a combined 78 runs off 71 spin deliveries, with four dismissals to the variety, including Hardik Pandya’s golden duck. Yet, by the end of 20 overs, India had surged to 175, which Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson later admitted was “about 25 runs above par.”
Of India’s 175 in the first innings of the marquee clash, watched by senior officials from the ICC, BCCI, PCB and other member boards, 144 runs came off 108 balls against spin. Of those, 66 were hammered in just 37 deliveries by Ishan Kishan during his blistering 40-ball 77, the second-highest score at the venue against spin in a T20 World Cup match.
While the broader scoring breakdown became clear only later in the Group A contest, a social media post by Himanish Ganjoo, India’s former data analyst from their triumphant 2024 World Cup campaign, underlined Ishan’s decisive impact. His innings, which spanned the first 52 balls of India’s knock, singlehandedly swung the win probability by nearly 30 per cent.
Ishan rose to the occasion by doing “something out of the box,” as captain Suryakumar Yadav later described it. However, his innings began on a tentative note, with Pakistan’s off-spinners testing him in the opening exchanges.
The match-up had been circled in Pakistan’s dressing room well before the game. Against new-ball off-spin, Ishan had a strike rate of just 120 and four dismissals. Salman Agha and Saim Ayub bowled with control to the two Indian left-handers, Ishan and Tilak Varma, maintaining disciplined lines. Ishan mistimed one delivery from Agha that landed safely and survived another nervy moment when a thick under-edge off Shaheen Afridi missed the stumps by millimetres before racing to the boundary.
But a tactical lapse shifted the momentum. In the fifth over of the powerplay, Pakistan introduced leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed — a match-up that favoured Ishan. He greeted Abrar with a six over backward square off a leg-side delivery and followed it with a boundary through covers off a short, wide googly.
The assault continued after the powerplay, compounded by Pakistan’s decision not to introduce off-spinner Usman Tariq immediately. Abrar returned in the seventh over, and Ishan smashed three consecutive boundaries to bring up a 27-ball fifty.
Shadab Khan, another leg-spinner, met a similar fate in the next over. A floated delivery in the slot disappeared for six, while a leg-side ball was swept fine for four.
Between them, Shadab and Abrar conceded 55 runs in four overs. Ishan alone plundered 41 off 17 balls in that phase, the decisive passage where the game tilted firmly in India’s favour, where the two bowlers also erred in their plan - they either bowled too slow and full or too short against the left-hander.
Against off-spin thereafter, he managed 25 runs off 20 balls before Ayub eventually dismissed him in the ninth over.
“Kishan’s fearless,” Hesson observed. “He scores on both sides of the ground and isn’t just committed to the leg side. If you use spinners in the powerplay, it can be a challenge against someone like him.”
Hesson’s assessment was spot on. Twenty-five of Ishan’s runs came on the off-side — an area he consciously worked on during his time away from the Indian team. That improvement was evident in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he scored 517 runs at a strike rate of 197, leading unfancied Jharkhand to the title.
“I did work a lot on my off-side game,” Ishan said after being named Player of the Match. “If I play good shots on the off side, it forces bowlers to change their plans. I was just trying to hit the gaps because it’s a big ground. When it’s a big ground, you get bigger gaps.
“I wanted to keep it simple, take twos whenever possible because the wicket wasn’t easy. I knew 160-170 would be a very good total on this surface.”