Ishan Kishan kept for India in the 5th T20I.
India made an interesting move by giving the wicketkeeping duties to Ishan Kishan in the fifth T20I against New Zealand in Thiruvananthapuram. In the previous games, Sanju Samson kept the wickets, while the southpaw played as a specialist batter.
Following the match’s conclusion, Suryakumar Yadav explained that Kishan donning the gloves was pre-decided, despite the team sheet suggesting otherwise. As visible on the team sheet, Sanju Samson was listed as a wicketkeeper-batter, with Kishan as a batter at No.3.
“Both the keepers were playing since game one, as Tilak [Varma] was not available. So we decided before the series started that three games will be kept by Sanju Samson and two games will be kept by Ishan. Ishan unfortunately missed the last game because of a niggle, but he was anyway going to keep the kicks today.”
Ishan Kishan, acting as a wicketkeeper, was likely an indication of how India will approach the T20 World Cup 2026. They might be trialling him as a wicketkeeper against the bowling attack that will play in the main event.
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Kishan succeeded as a batter, ending as the second-leading run-getter in the New Zealand rubber. Meanwhile, Sanju Samson remained underwhelming, scoring only 46 runs at an average of 9.20 in five innings as an opener.
Hence, Ishan Kishan will likely start ahead of him by opening with Abhishek Sharma, and the wicketkeeping duties in the final game might be given to help him acclimatise to the role. He didn’t have a great outing behind the sticks and made numerous errors with the gloves, something India would want him to tighten up in the remaining days before the start of the T20 World Cup 2026.
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