Ishan Kishan said that his game-winning effort against bitter rivals Pakistan in Sunday’s T20 World Cup encounter in Colombo was the result of his better off-side play.
India defeated Pakistan by 61 runs thanks to Kishan’s 77 off 40 balls on a challenging pitch, to maintain their great record in T20 World Cups.
Since his comeback to the Indian team, Kishan has been sizzling, and he was happy with his performance in a “special” game. The left-hander dominates the leg side, but he also played well on off the side against Pakistan.
“I think the wicket wasn’t that easy in the beginning. You just have to believe and focus on your strength. Wanted to make them run as much as possible to my side. I worked a lot on my off-side play.
“I was just trying to keep it simple. I had that in mind that we need to put 160-170 runs and it will be a good total for us. India versus Pakistan is always a special game not only for us but for our country as well. Winning this game against Pakistan will give us a lot of confidence and we will look to keep the momentum going,” PTI quoted Kishan as saying after match.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav commended Kishan for his outstanding performance on a challenging pitch. Considering the surface, he also thought India’s 175/7 was a very impressive total.
“I think this (win) is for India. We played the same brand of cricket what we wanted to play. Batting first was better option on this wicket. Ishan thought something out of the box.
“After 0/1, someone had to take responsibility and the way he took it was amazing. We felt it (the total) was 15 above par. 155 could’ve been a tight game. It was great to see everyone contributing with the ball. We’ll go back, have a good time together as a team and then think about the other games when we take the flight to Ahmedabad,” said Suryakumar.
Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha claimed that the spinners’ performance fell short.
“Our spinners had an off day. Execution was missing in some parts. We believe in our spinners, they’ve done well in last six months. We lost too many wickets in the powerplay with the bat. In the first innings it was tacky, the ball was gripping as well. The execution was missing with the ball. Pitch played better in the second innings than it did in the first,” said Agha.
Pakistan now needs to defeat Namibia in order to advance to the Super 8s.
“In these kind of games, the emotions are always going to be high. Have to deal with it. Have played enough games like that. Have a game in two days time, have to look forward to that. Need to win that game and qualify for the Super Eights. Then it’s a new tournament again,” said Agha.
