Out of the national side, dropped from the retainership and not having things go as per plan, Ishan Kishan made a statement at a new batting position in a new team, scoring a joint-second fastest century by an Indian player in the IPL. Kishan smashed his maiden IPL ton as Sunrisers Hyderabad notched up the second-highest score in IPL history, 286 blowing away Rajasthan Royals.
Having spent seven seasons with the Mumbai Indians, coming to a new setup, Kishan revelled in the freedom provided to the players by the leadership group to go and express themselves and not worrying about losing their wicket. Ishan revealed that he rang up Abhishek Sharma, the SRH opener, immediately after being picked by the franchise as to what would his role be and the response was, just smash.
"I straight away called Abhishek and asked what are you guys expecting? Do I have to come and hit each and every ball? And he was like 'On point. That is your job. You come here and hit each and every ball. You just enjoy in this team and that is the best part'," Kishan said at the post-match press conference. The 26-year-old further stressed that the team environment led by head coach Daniel Vettori and captain Pat Cummins is one of role clarity and having fun without worrying about the consequences for the most part.
"I could actually see and feel before we played this game. It's not that I got a hundred and I am 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 are going to play in the tournament each and every time," Ishan added.
The left-hander, who raced off to 80 off 37 balls mentioned that the start by Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma continuing from where they left off in the last season, actually propelled him to just continue in the same vein and eventually get the success he got.
"The skipper, he's giving a lot of freedom to everyone," Kishan said. "Doesn't matter if you get a lot of runs or if you get out early. Until and unless you're doing everything for the team, it's all fair. That's the confidence every player in the team needs, so hats off to him and the management."
Sunrisers already have four of the top five highest team scores in the IPL and as long as the pitch in Hyderabad plays anything close to how it did on Sunday, the fans in the city of Nizams are in for a time of their lives.