Ishan Kishan opened the innings for India in place of Sanju Samson in their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 warm-up match against South Africa in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday (February 4) and scored 53 runs from
just 20 balls. During his stay at the crease, the left-handed wicketkeeper-batter from Patna, who represents Jharkhand in domestic cricket, slammed 2 fours and 7 sixes for the Men in Blue. Ishan opened his account by hitting Lungi Ngidi for a six on the second ball of India’s innings in the match taking place at the DY Patil Stadium and reached the 50-run mark by smacking Kwena Maphaka for a maximum on the fourth ball of the sixth over of India’s innings.
In between this, he scored 6, 6, 4, and 6 on the last four balls of the fifth over of India’s innings bowled by Anrich Nortje.
With his 20-ball 53-run knock, Ishan, who scored a century in 42 balls for India in the fifth T20I match against New Zealand on January 31, 2026, has almost confirmed his place in India’s playing XI for their T20 World Cup 2026 opener against the United States of America on February 7. India will start their T20 World Cup title defence on Saturday in Mumbai against the United States and then take on Namibia in Delhi on February 12.
While Ishan is almost certain to be part of India’s playing XI on Saturday, it will be interesting to see if he keeps the wickets as well. Sanju Samson is India’s first-choice wicketkeeper in T20Is, but he is out of form, and since Ishan can also keep the wickets, he might replace Samson.
Ishan added 80 runs in just 5.4 overs for the first wicket with Abhishek Sharma (24 runs from 18 balls).
After Ishan returned back to the dugout, Tilak Varma walked out to bat at No. 3, and at the end of 10 overs, he was batting on 40 runs from just 16 balls. The left-handed batter from Hyderabad has hammered 2 fours and 3 sixes so far for the Suryakumar Yadav-led side.
Tilak, who missed the T20I series against New Zealand last month, played for India A in the warm-up match against the USA in Navi Mumbai on February 2, and in that fixture, he scored 38 runs from 24 balls in addition to taking one wicket.
