Ishan Kishan said that immediately after being picked by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 11.25 crore or approximately USD 1.34 million, he reached for his phone. Most wanted to know how it would be to be a part of the most dynamic batting team in the league.
“I straightaway called Abhishek [Sharma] and asked, ‘What are you guys expecting, do I have to come and hit each and every ball?’ He was like, ‘On point, yeah, that is your job, you come here and you hit each and every ball, you just enjoy this team.’ And that is the best part.”
“I could actually see, and I could actually feel it before we played this game.” Kishan shared after scoring an impressive 106 not out off 47 balls, leading SRH to victory over Rajasthan Royals. “It’s not that I got a hundred and I’m talking about it. But yeah, when I got here, the message was very clear. ‘If the ball is there, just go for it, have your fun, have your moment’ and that’s how I think we’re going to play the tournament. Even if we are in a very good phase, we would do the same thing each and every time.”
Kishan’s century scored in 45 balls, is the third fastest for a Sunrisers player after Travis Head (41 balls) and David Warner (43). His two big partnerships with Travis Head and Nitish Reddy took Sunrisers to 286—just below their own all-time IPL record of 287, establishing four of the five highest scores ever in the league.
“Someone came in the middle with a water bottle and said we need to cross this total,” Kishan recounted. “I was like, I did not know if there was a target set or something, but yeah, when you don’t achieve the goal, it’s something like you want to do it again.”
