‘Happy To Get That’: Ishan Kishan Happy After Scoring His Maiden IPL Ton Against RR
Following his scintillating century against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on his debut in Orange clothing, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batter Ishan Kishan expressed happiness at reaching the milestone for the first time in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and thanked the team leadership for their “freedom and confidence” in batters. A fine century by Kishan and a half-century from opener Travis Head powered SRH to 286/6 against RR at their home ground of Uppal Stadium on Sunday, and Men in Orange continued from where they started last season, falling just two runs short of two runs of breaking their record of highest team total in IPL history.
Speaking after the inning, Kishan said, “Feels good, it was coming for a while. I wanted to get this last season, but I am happy to get that first hundred. The team has put their faith in me, and I want to do my best for them. The captain has given us all a lot of freedom and confidence, hats off to the management. When Abhishek (Sharma) and Head started, they gave a lot of confidence to us batters in the dugout. The pitch was looking good, and we were just trying to get them under pressure. We need to be on point with the ball and keep it simple. Rajasthan batters are good but if we bowl in the right areas and to the plans, we should be good.”
Coming to the match, SRH was put to bat first by RR, who opted to field first. A 45-run stand between Abhishek (24 in 11 balls, with five fours) and Head kickstarted things for SRH. An 85-run stand between Head (67 in 31 balls, with nine fours and three sixes) and Kishan accelerated the run-rate). Cameos came from Nitish Kumar Reddy (30 in 15 balls, with four boundaries and a six) and Heinrich Klaasen (34 in 14 balls, with five fours and a six) and provided good support to Ishan, who ended with 106* in 47 balls, with 11 fours and six sixes.
Tushar Deshpande (3/44) was the top bowler for RR, while Maheesh Theekshana got two scalps for 52 runs. Jofra Archer delivered the most expensive over in IPL history, going wicketless for 76 runs in four overs.
