India opener and wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan has said that he is a different person now after going through a tough phase when he was dropped from the national team a couple of years ago. He said that although he still enjoys joking around, he has become much more serious about his cricket.
Kishan played a brilliant knock of 61 runs off just 24 balls to help India defeat Namibia by 93 runs in their T20 World Cup 2026 match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday, February 12. He came back to India’s T20I team against New Zealand and has played well since.
Speaking at the post-match press conference after the win over Namibia, Kishan honestly said that he has changed a lot as a person in the past few years. He added:
“I am a changed man now. I don’t get into it too much. I do enjoy jokes and everything. Earlier, I used to do it 24×7, but now it’s just 2-3 hours of it. I am just focusing more on batting and my wicketkeeping, which is going to help the team and which is going to help me. Everything else is secondary. So, I am not just joking especially under Gauti bhai [Gautam Gambhir] it’s [laughs]…”
“Maybe we can use the crease more” – Kishan Credits Namibia’s Bowling Attack
India have won their first two T20 World Cup 2026 matches, but their batters have faced some difficulties in both games. Against the USA, they struggled to 77-6, and in the match against Namibia on Thursday, there were periods when the batters couldn’t hit freely.
Ishan Kishan acknowledged that the team has been tested and said they need to figure out ways to improve. He added:
“In both the wickets, I feel it was a bit different from what we expected to happen. And today, looking at the death overs, when we were not able to regularly hit big sixes, I think we need to also give credit to Namibia bowlers because they were bang on with their yorkers, they were bang on with their slower ones.”
“So yeah, it was a good learning. Maybe if some other team is doing the same thing, maybe we can use the crease more or we can do something different, which can irritate the bowler,” the Jharkhand cricketer added.
India’s next match in the 2026 T20 World Cup is against Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday, February 15.
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