T20 World Cup, India vs Pakistan: Father Shares Secret Of Ishan Kishan's Match-Winning Knock

'He worked very hard in the last two years, he played a lot of domestic cricket, focused on his batting.'

Ishan Kishan's father Pranav Kumar Pandey was beaming with happiness after the left-hander smashed a match-winning fifty to power India to a thumping 61-run victory against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, in Colombo, on Sunday, February 15, 2026.

Playing for the first time against Pakistan in international cricket, Ishan stroked a quickfire 77 from 40 balls as India posted a healthy 175/7 in their 20 overs after being put into bat. In reply, Pakistan folded for a lowly 114 in 18 overs.

Kishan was instrumental in getting India back on track after Abhishek Sharma's early dismissal for a duck in the first over.

The left-hander smashed pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi for a six and a four in the second over before repeating the dose on leggie Abrar Ahmed in the fifth over.

Courtesy of Kishan's counter-attack India raced to 52/1 in six overs in the Powerplay.

He went ballistic after the Powerplay, hitting Abrar for three fours in a row in the seventh over, before he slammed Shadab Khan for a six and a four in the following over.

Kishan's fifty from just 27 balls is the second fastest by an Indian batter against Pakistan in T20 Internationals after the 24-ball half-century by Abhishek in the Asia Cup in Dubal last year.

His quickfire knock, which was laced with 10 fours and three sixes, ensured that India posted a healthy 175/7 in their 20 overs despite Pakistan bouncing back in the latter half of the innings.

Kishan's Road To Redemption

It has been a long journey back to the Indian team for Kishan.

Two years ago, the Jharkhand wicket-keeper-batter was dropped from the Indian team after he had sought a break from the Test series in South Africa in December 2025, citing mental fatigue.

After he was reportedly spotted partying in Dubai, he was left out of the BCCI Central Contracts List and subsequently excluded from the Indian team across formats.

He returned to domestic cricket with a bottom-up approach by playing tournaments like Buchi Babu Trophy and the D Y Patil T20 league before leading Jharkhand to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 title in December, amassing a tournament highest of 517 runs at a strike rate over 197.

Those performances proved instrumental as the selectors had no option but to bring back Kishan for the first time in two years for the five-match T20I series against New Zealand in December. And there has been no looking back since.

Since making it back for the New Zealand series, the 27 year old has smashed 373 runs in seven matches, averaging 53.28 at a strike rate of 215.6, including a century and three fifties.

Playing in domestic cricket proved to be a major period of self-reflection for the wicketkeeper-batter.

'I was just looking to score runs (in domestic cricket). Sometimes it's important to do it for yourself, to answer your own questions about how you're batting and whether you're capable of playing for India. That's why it was important for me to play domestic cricket and get runs,' Kishan said last month during the New Zealand T20I series.

Kishan's family revelled in his superb performance against Pakistan.

"We are very happy, and even more delighted that India won the match. We are proud that Ishan was the man of the match, but even more proud that the team won," Kishan's father Pranav Kumar Pandey told ANI.

"We hope this performance continues and India continues their winning run. He worked very hard in the last two years, he played a lot of domestic cricket, focused on his batting."

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar also hailed Kishan's impactful batting against spinners for his stint in domestic cricket.

'It's a good thing in Ishan Kishen India had one batter who had come off a heavy dose of domestic cricket. To be proficient against spin playing a lot of local cricket is the only solution. No short cuts there,' said Manjrekar on X.