Ishan Kishan made a fiery knock to set up India’s stunning 61-run victory against Pakistan in the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 game played on February 15 at Colombo.
By this win, India retained their top spot in the Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 points table and became the first team in group A to advance to Super 8s.
After being invited to bat first, India’s Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan opened the innings, while Salman Agha opened the bowling attack. The Pakistan captain brought his first wicket, dismissing aggressive Abhishek for a duck.
However, Ishan Kishan made a solid start while playing along with Tilak Varma. The duo scored 52 runs in the power play and continued to make a solid partnership for the second wicket.
Ishan Kishan, who scored 77 runs off 40 deliveries, made the knock with 10 fours and 3 sixes. However, he got dismissed by Saim Ayub in the 9th over.
On the other hand, Suryakumar Yadav, who joined Tilak, made a decent partnership as India scored 126 runs for the 3rd wicket.
Saim Ayub struck again, picking the wickets of Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya for 25 and 0 in consecutive deliveries.
On the other hand, Usman Tariq bagged the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav for 32 runs. Both Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh made a cameo, adding 27 and 11 runs to the scoreboard.
By the end of 20 overs, India scored 176 runs, losing 7 wickets in their innings. Saim Ayub picked three wickets while Salman Agha, Shaheen Afridi and Usman Tariq picked a wicket each during the game.
Chasing 176 runs, Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub opened the attack while Hardika Pandya opened the bowling attack.
Hardik picked the wicket of Farhan for a duck while Jasprit Bumrah picked the wicket of Saim Ayub for 6 runs. Bumrah got his second dismissal of Salman Agha for 4 runs in the same over.
A special knock to guide a big victory ✨
Ishan Kishan wins the Player of the Match award in Colombo 🫡
Scorecard ▶️ #TeamIndia | #T20WorldCup | #MenInBlue pic.twitter.com/z0EONAxFoq
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 15, 2026
Axar Patel, who was introduced to bowling within the powerplay, bagged the wicket of Babar Azam for 5 runs as Pakistan lost four wickets for just 34 runs.
However, Usman Khan and Shadab Khan had made a small stand, but their resistance was shattered as Axar Patel got his second wicket, bagging the wicket of Usman Khan for 44 runs.
The wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav bagged the wicket of Nawaz, further troubling Pakistan. The part-timer bowler Tilak Varma picked the wicket of Shadab Khan, while Varun Chakravarthy picked the wickets of Faheem Ashraf and Abrar Ahmed for 10 and duck, leaving Pakistan with their last wicket.
However, Shaheen Afridi did show some resilience in the end, scoring 23 runs in 19 deliveries; however, his partner Usman Tariq’s dismissal made Pakistan lose all 10 wickets for scoring 114 runs.
India secured a big 61-run victory against its greatest arch-rivals, Pakistan, and extending Men in Blues’ dominance against the Men in Green.
Ishan Kishan was named Player of the Match. Speaking at the post-match presentation, he said, “I think the wicket was not that easy in the beginning, but sometimes you just have to believe what you want to play, what shots are on, and you have to just focus on your strength.”
“So I was just keeping it simple and watching the ball and playing with the field, maybe trying to make them run as much as they can, but yeah, I think it worked pretty well on my side,” concluded Ishan Kishan.
India will play their final group stage game against the Netherlands on February 18 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
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