Team India batter Ishan Kishan stated that his cricketing acumen helped him pull off the stunning catch of Matthew Forde in the first T20I against the West Indies. He admitted that he lost the ball in the lights, but added he had an intuition that the ball would come near his waist.
Kishan completed an unbelievable catch at deep midwicket to dismiss Forde for two in the first India vs West Indies T20I in Lucknow on Tuesday, October 6. Forde pulled a shortish delivery from Kuldeep Yadav towards deep midwicket. Kishan lost the ball in lights, but stretched out his hands low to his left, while reverse-cupping and also sliding. He was in total disbelief as the ball stuck in his hands.
Speaking to the host broadcaster after India‘s eight-wicket win, Kishan opened up on the brilliant piece of fielding and said (via Cricbuzz):
“I was not able to judge the ball because it was coming straight from the lights, but I had that slight intuition where I felt the ball’s going to appear near my waist, so I just went for it and I’m just thankful that it was in my hand afterwards.”
Fielding first after winning the toss, India bowled out the West Indies in 171 in 19.1 overs. Naman Dhir starred with 3-31, while spinners Kuldeep and Axar Patel claimed two scalps each.
“I was not looking in great touch” – Kishan on playing second fiddle to Shreyas Iyer in 1st IND vs WI 2026 T20I
Apart from taking a memorable catch, Kishan also chipped in with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 37 off 27 balls. The left-handed batter played the support act in an unbroken third-wicket stand of 137 with skipper Shreyas Iyer (102* off 43). The keeper-batter said that he was happy to play second fiddle to his captain in the partnership. Speaking about the stand, he said (via the aforementioned source):
“He [Shreyas] was in very good touch and, to be very honest, looking from the other end, I felt it’s better to keep him on strike and not let the momentum stop. So my job was pretty easy in the middle, to just get off strike and let him play as many balls as he can.
“I think you get to know in the middle. How the other batter is timing the ball, if I’m doing it better or he is doing it. And he looked in very good touch today. And I was not looking in great touch, to be very honest. So I just felt it’s better to keep him on strike rather than just be on strike,” Kishan added.
Shreyas struck 10 fours and six sixes in his knock, bringing up his maiden T20I ton, as India took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Edited by Renin Wilben Albert