Ishan Kishan achieves historic feat even MS Dhoni couldn’t achieve:Slammed 61 against Namibia, won Impact Player of the Match

Wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan was honoured with Team India’s Impact Player Award for his excellent performance in the India-Namibia match. In the T20 World Cup 2026 match played in Delhi on Thursday, Ishan played a blistering innings of 61 runs off just 24 balls. His innings included 6 fours and 5 sixes. Ishan achieved a historic feat that even former India captain MS Dhoni couldn’t in his decorated career. India’s third-highest score in powerplay
Ishan scored 28 runs from one over by JJ Smit in the last over of the powerplay. After the first ball was a dot, he hit four sixes and one four off the next five balls. India scored 86 runs for 1 wicket in the first 6 overs, which is India’s third-highest powerplay score in T20 Internationals. Previously, India had scored 95/1 against England in Mumbai in February 2025 and 94/2 against New Zealand recently in Guwahati. Fifty in 20 balls
Ishan Kishan completed his fifty in 20 balls, which is jointly the fifth-fastest fifty for India in T20 World Cup. Topping this list is Yuvraj Singh’s historic innings of 12 balls. Furthermore, Ishan Kishan posted the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper in T20 World Cup history. He completed his half-century within the powerplay and joined the list of Indian batsmen to do so. Before him, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul had achieved this feat. Since the Asia Cup in September 2025, Indian batsmen have scored 960 runs in the power play at a strike rate of 162.93. India is the only team in the world whose collective strike rate in the powerplay is more than 150. Highest Individual Scores by Indian Wicketkeeper-Batters (at T20 World Cups): Pace slowed down in the middle overs
After Ishan’s dismissal, India’s run rate slowed down. At one point, the team lost 3 wickets, adding only 20 runs in 30 balls. Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Shivam Dube struggled.
However, Hardik Pandya’s quick batting in the final overs took the team past 200. If Ishan’s explosive start in the powerplay hadn’t happened, India’s score could have remained below 180. After the match, Ishan Kishan said, “We are all in good rhythm and want to take full advantage of the powerplay. We target the bowlers. Initially, Trumpelmann was bowling well, so we didn’t take risks. We knew that once the swing stopped, we could score more than 25 runs in an over instead of 15, and that’s what we did.” Focus on Pakistan Match Regarding the match against Pakistan in Colombo on Sunday, Ishan said, “The conditions there will be different. We will have to play according to the pitch and the strength of their bowlers. If needed, I will rotate the strike so that the team’s score keeps increasing. It is important for one of the top-3 batsmen to play a long innings, and we are clear about this role.”