IND vs SA 2022, Delhi T20I: Ishan Kishan's 48-ball 76 steers India past 200, social media cheers

India is facing off against South Africa in Delhi T20I on Thursday. Ishan Kishan played a 48-ball brisk of 76 as the hosts set a target of 212.

India is involved in an entertaining first Twenty20 International (T20I) against South Africa. Being played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday, India posted a commanding total of 211/3, as it rode on a brisk knock of 76 off 48 deliveries. Shreyas Iyer also aided him, who played a decent knock of 36, along with Hardik Pandya, who was unbeaten on 31. Most Indian batters contributed their part in true partnerships, allowing one of the batters to free the arms and play the hits as the scoreboard kept ticking. In the meantime, the fans were impressed by Kishan's knock and took to social media to cheer for him.

As a result of this score, India has managed to post its highest T20I total against South Africa. Also, in an exciting stat shared by Opta, "82% of runs that @ishankishan51 has scored in today's #INDvSA game have come from boundaries, his most from a game when he has scored a minimum of 30 runs in a #T20I innings."

Following the knock, Kishan stated, "On this wicket, it is a magnificent total, as it was not easy and the ball wasn't coming properly initially, so we had to keep the intent at the same time, and I think it worked well for my team. It was important to keep the shape initially, and I was planning to watch the ball till the last moment and keep the shape going."

"We have to use the powerplay well as it won't be easy to score easily for the upcoming batters, and my job was to hit the bad balls for boundaries and keep the bowler under pressure. When the left-arm spinner came on to bowl, I told Shreyas that I would take my chances and told him that he could attack when Shamsi was bowling because you got to be smart at this level," added Kishan.

"We just planned, and it went our way. I thought 150 was a good total, and now, the job is to keep things simple and hit the right areas. We need to keep that discipline and character. We should be able to defend it, but cricket is a funny game, and anything can happen. And they need 1-2 batters to get going, and our job is to not focus on what they are going to do. We will try and emulate what we did in the practice sessions and what we planned with the support staff. We will keep it simple," Kishan concluded.

As for the innings, India was asked to bat first. Rishabh Pant is leading on KL Rahul being ruled out of the series on Wednesday due to an injury. Iyer and Kishan produced the best stand of the innings, worth 80 runs, while Kishan and opener Ruturaj Gaikwad contributed 57 runs. Pacer Wayne Parnell was the most economical of all South African bowlers.
Brief scores: IND 211/4 (Kishan- 76, Iyer- 36, Pandya- 31*; Parnell- 1/32) vs SA.