Ishan Kishan grabbed his opportunity with both hands in his game against Namibia. Sanju Samson is still searching for the right rhythm.
Namibia was supposed to be an easy game for India before they face their arch-rivals Pakistan in Colombo. That’s exactly what happened against Namibia as Ishan, Varun, and Hardik starred in India’s dominant 93-run victory at the Arun Jaitly Stadium. India was waiting for Abhishek Sharma’s recovery from stomach related issue. Due to Abhishek not being available, Samson was handed another opportunity in the playing XI. He was the preferred partner of Abhishek Sharma up until December 2025. After that, Ishan Kishan made a comeback into the T20 squad on the back of a memorable domestic season.
Samson didn’t have the greatest of nights, but he did score 22 runs off just 8 balls. It was just a cameo rather than a statement from Samson.
Well, Ishan Kishan did fare well in the second game after missing out on the first game. At the beginning, he started with caution and then launched a brutal takedown. In the sixth over of JJ Smit, Kishan scored 28 runs to take India to 86/1 in the powerplay.
He partnered with Tilak Verma for a 79-run stand, with him being the aggressor in that partnership. He said, “When I got the rhythm, it was my side, and I was supposed to get the momentum going.” At one point, it looked like India would make around 230 or more. But Namibia pushed back and took control of the death overs.
The Namibia captain, Gerhard Erasmus (4/20), and spinners dragged the game back in the middle overs. However, Hardik Pandya provided the impetus needed for India to score well at death. He muscled a 28 ball 52. He partnered with Shivam Dube to score 81 runs. However, he fell right after scoring his fifty. India lost five wickets in the death overs for just three runs. In the end, India could only manage 209/9 in their 20 overs.
Even this score proved too much for Namibia as Louren Steenkamp (29) and Jan Frylinck (22) could not match India in the powerplay. They could only score 57 runs in the first six overs.
Steenkamp made a small partnership of 33-runs with Frylinch and a 34-run partnership with Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton. However, Varun Chakravarthy’s googlies proved to be too hard to read for the Namibians. He took three wicket in just overs by giving only 7 runs.
