Quick Comment | From outlaw to hero: How Ishan Kishan’s brutal hundred solved India’s No. 3 crisis and possibly threatened Sanju Samson’s opening spot | Cricket News
3 min readUpdated: Jan 31, 2026 09:29 PM The celebrations when he reached his hundred showed the significance it held for Ishan Kishan. He removed his helmet, raised his bat, sprinted towards point, leapt in the air, and fell into Hardik Pandya’s embrace, both bouncing with joy. He completed a stirring redemption song, from outlaw to outsider to hero. His streak of form is a blessing on several levels. He is the buccaneering T20 No. 3 India never had; he could open when Tilak Varma returns without durbing the team’s balance.
Whether he is upgraded to opener is another question, and the team has a week to contemplate. But he is arguably the most postmodern one-drop batsman India ever had, even though he is only four games into his new role. As recently as the South Africa series, India was confused about the characterics of their number three. They were caught up in the Virat Kohli-Shubman Gill mould, where the role was primarily accumulator rather than pure aggressor. Suryakumar Yadav was tried, but though suited to the role, a lean patch collided. India tried Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson, but neither inspired confidence. Ishan turned out to be the mould-breaker, the right man at the right time. In just four innings, he has added another layer of intimidation to this fearless batting firm, dripping in power and panache from head to toe.
This was the most brutally free-flowing knock of his international career against a high-class New Zealand attack. An incredible six off Lockie Ferguson, his first of the night, captured his rhythm. It was a leg-cutter outside off-stump, perhaps too wide for optimum control. But with a crisp, clean bat-swing, he smote the ball through extra cover. The four before captured his bravado. It was fast and wide, beyond his reach, but he imparted every ounce of coiled energy into the stroke. He released his bottom hand so the bat wouldn’t turn in his arms. The strokes just reeled off his bat, as if its sole purpose was to disillusion the bowlers. Some batsmen plunge bowlers into a vortex of helplessness; some wow them; those like Ishan leave them in despair.
The petrified Mitchell Santner summoned Ish Sodhi, the leg-spinner. Ishan greeted him with a humongous six. When Santner decided to check the flow of runs himself, Ishan carted him for a four and six. The supposedly less eventful middle overs became a theatre of brutal six-hitting. Against the spinners, he either waited and sank to his knees and cudgelled them over mid-wicket or danced down the pitch and thumped them over covers with a savage swing.
Ishan and Suryakumar Yadav batting in the middle overs would be a fearsome prospect for most bowlers. Between the ninth and 17th over, they creamed 132 runs—a decent T20 total a decade ago—in eight overs. Their stand of 137 was as bewildering as it was exciting. India have finally unearthed their postmodern No. 3 of uninhibited hitting prowess in Ishan Kishan.
