Former India player turned commentator Sanjay Bangar has said that a few factors worked to Ishan Kishan’s advantage in India’s T20 World Cup 2026 match against Pakistan. He added that the backing Ishan helped the cause. However, India beat Pakistan by 61 runs in a T20 World Cup 2026 Group A game in Colombo on Sunday, February 15 as well.

During an interaction on the Star Sports show ‘Follow the Blues,’ Bangar said, “To bat like Ishan Kishan, the way he did against Pakistan, I believe there have to be a couple of factors that have to be your advantage. Number one, he is batting at the top of the order. He has the backing of the team to go out and play by taking a lot of risks, which, at the moment, are coming off. Number two, he is the man in form, and T20 cricket is basically for form players. So he is maximizing whatever form that he has. There is a method in which he dominated. It isn’t that he was targeting each and every bowler.”

“Even till the fourth over, he first attacked Shaheen Shah Afridi in the second over, then gave respect to the off-spinners, and when the leg-spinners came, he took them to the cleaners. So all in all, a very calculative innings. I must say that even though he was getting the majority of the strike, he was farming the strike pretty well and made those 77 possible out of the 88 runs that were there on the scoreboard,” he shared again.

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However, Sanjay Bangar applauded Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy when he was asked about his thoughts on Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah’s new-ball spells in India’s T20 World Cup 2026 match against Pakistan.

“As much credit is due to the Indian fast bowlers, I would like to compliment Suryakumar Yadav. Despite Pakistan using 18 overs of spin, he resisted that urge to start with spin and gave the fast bowlers the first chance to bowl at the Pakistani batters,” he said.

“That’s where Hardik Pandya was hitting the hard lengths. He was bowling the ball into the stumps. That gave him the effectiveness that was needed. Jasprit Bumrah outthought Saim Ayub. The first ball, Ayub didn’t really have any clue when the ball got top-edged and went for a six. The ball was swinging away, and the very next ball, he set him up beautifully by that in-dipping ball to the left-hander,” Sanjay Bangar concluded.