{"id":"f-80ae245e0c-7248de6a-2311-5f82-bfa8-d4846290e4b9","title":"First Time In T20Is! Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma Help India Achieve Rare Feat Of...","description":"India fielded a top-three of left-handers for the first time in T20I history in the 2026 T20 World Cup opener against USA, with Abishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Tilak Varma.","timestamp":1770476700,"category":"sports","headline":"First Time In T20Is! Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma Help India Achieve Rare Feat Of...","modifiedHeadline":"1st time in T20Is! India achieves rare feat vs USA","subCategories":["scid_185ed133"],"region":"IN","bundleMetaData":{"bundleId":"6ff0e53c-03a9-4fac-a199-00040694f01a","bundleTitle":"Indian Cricket","cardData":null},"iabCategoryId":"491","fcSummary":"india's t20i opener against the usa saw a historic top-three of only left-handers for the first time ever, with abishek sharma, ishan kishan, and tilak varma in the lineup, a feat not seen in international cricket since the 1990s.","summary":"India made T20I history as Abhishek, Kishan, and Tilak formed the first-ever top-three left-handers in a World Cup opener vs USA.","ctaUrl":"https://trends.glance.com/newz/news/IN/en/news18/f-80ae245e0c-7248de6a-2311-5f82-bfa8-d4846290e4b9","sourceUrl":"https://www.news18.com/cricket/first-time-in-t20is-ishan-kishan-tilak-varma-help-india-achieve-rare-feat-of-ws-l-9887211.html","bannerImage":"https://g-mob.glance-cdn.com/public/fc/image/LvWnQIyl4iT0.webp","content":"

Tilak Varma’s return to India’s 11 and Ishan Kishan replacing Sanju Samson helped India achieve a rare feat in T20Is during the team’s 2026 T20 World Cup opener against the USA. This was the first time

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in India’s T20I history that the team had a top-three only comprising left-handers.

It has never happened before in Tests, either, with the only two instances of international cricket coming in ODIs during the 1990s.

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Abishek Sharma, the remaining one-third of the troika, has been the team’s first choice in the position for a while. The other end has seen a lot of shuffling, a musical chairs of sorts.

Before the 2025 Asia Cup, right-hander Samson was opening with Abhishek. For that tournament in the UAE, India replaced the former with another righty, Shubman Gill.

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Gill’s poor form got him replaced last month, with Samson asked to open again. But the Kerala star’s underwhelming returns in the five-T20I series against South Africa opened the door for Kishan, who was playing the series at number three as a replacement for Tilak, who was injured.

Before the T20 World Cups, in a warmup against South Africa, India asked Kishan to open with Tilak at three, in the first clear sign that Samson was being dropped.

Abhishek-Kishan also script new record

It was also the first time since 2012 that India opened a T20I World Cup innings with two left-handers. Only five times previously have two lefties opened a T20I innings for India and just one of them came in a T20 World Cup: Gautam Gambhir and Irfan Pathan in the 2012 edition. Interestingly, Kishan has been involved in two of those five instances, both with Rishabh Pant.

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In this match, it didn’t go as planned. Abhishek got out for a golden duck in the second over, while Kishan only managed a 16-ball 20, getting out before the conclusion of the powerplay. Only three balls later, Tilak also got out for a 16-ball 25.

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First Time In T20Is! Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma Help India Achieve Rare Feat Of...

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