Ishan Kishan has found Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) as his new home in the IPL. SRH will be Kishan's third franchise after Gujarat Lions (2016-17) and Mumbai Indians (2018-2024) as the last year's runners-up left the likes of Punjab Kings, MI and the Delhi Capitals behind to acquire the wicketkeeper-batter's services at INR 11.25 crore at the mega auction in Jeddah on Sunday, November 24.
Mumbai Indians began the bidding at base price of INR 2 crore but dropped out rather quickly at INR 3.2 crore. Delhi Capitals joined Punjab Kings in the bid and continued till INR 9.75 crore before they dropped out as well. Kings were there from the start till the penultimate bid for Kishan till INR 11 crore before SRH bagged him at INR 11.25 crore.
Kishan will form a bludgeoning top three alongside Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma for SRH with Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen to follow. At 11.75 crore, Kishan suffered a 26.22 per cent drop in his salary what he was getting for the Mumbai Indians (INR 15.25 crore).
Kishan would be multiutility player for the Sunrisers as he can slot in at No 3, offers a wicketkeeping option, even though they have Klaasen and can open the innings as well if the Orange Army decides to recalculate their overseas options if Travis Head doesn't fit somehow in the combination.
Kishan had a poor season with the Mumbai Indians last year scoring just 320 runs at an average of 22.86. However, his strike rate of 148.84 will excite the Sunrisers, who rewrote history in fearless and positive cricket.
Apart from Ishan Kishan, Sunrisers invested in Indian pacers Mohammed Shami (INR 10 crore) and Harshal Patel (INR 8 crore) and leg-spinner Rahul Chahar (INR 3.2 crore) and Australian leggie Adam Zampa (INR 2.4 crore). However, SRH with the core they retained should be able to form a strong squad with a couple of Indian pacers in the side.
