IPL 2025: Born-again Ishan Kishan leads with ton as SRH fire first salvo | Cricket News

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Ishan Kishan celebrates his century during the match against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. (ANI)

Hyderabad: Ishan Kishan made a sensational debut for his new team on Sunday. A stunning maiden, unbeaten 106 (47b, 11×4, 6×6) by the southpaw set up last year’s runners-up Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 44-run win over Rajasthan Royals.
Courtesy the blitzkrieg, SRH racked up the league’s second-highest total of 286/6, just shy of their record of 287/3 they set against Royal Challengers Bengaluru last season. SRH now have the most 250+ totals — four — in IPL. Chasing an imposing target, the visitors, who played into SRH’s hands by inviting them to bat first on a belter, finished at 242/6.
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Ishan, whose first reaction after being acquired by SRH for Rs 11.25 crore at the mega auction was to call SRH opener Abhishek Sharma and ask what was expected of him, said 300 crossed his mind. “In the middle someone came with the message saying that we have to achieve that target. I said I didn’t know we had a target in mind. But, it is good posting such big totals,” said Ishan.

Sunday’s innings could well prove a giant first step for Kishan’s return into national reckoning, after a couple of bleak seasons that may have forced introspection and a rekindling of ambition. It was such a rollicking start to his SRH stint that even the Rajasthan Royals batting coach Vikram Rathour had words of appreciation — “when someone scores a century of that kind, there is everything to like about it.”
Kishan later said that the flying kisses after reaching his century were meant for his fans and his brother — Raj Kishan — who was in the stands. The SRH No. 3 credited the team management for his hurricane knock. “It was important for me to gain confidence from the start. The captain is so supportive, and the coach is on the mark. He told me that if the ball is in my slot, I should go for it. That sort of confidence from your team captain is a big boost,” Ishan said later.
He justified coach Daniel Vettori’s faith by sending the Rajasthan bowlers on a leather hunt after SRH’s opening duo of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma smashed 45 runs in 3.1 overs before Sharma was dismissed by Maheesh Theekshana.

Head plundered 23 runs (4×4, 1×6) off Jofra Archer’s first over, as the Englishman had the ignominy of returning the worst figures in the league. His none for 76 eclipsed Mohit Sharma’s none for 73 for Gujarat.
Kishan and Head took the hosts to 94/1 in the Powerplay and galloped past 100 in 6.4 overs. Head reached his fifty off 21 deliveries, but two overs later he departed hitting straight to Shimron Hetmyer off Tushar Deshpande. Head and Kishan added 85 off 39 balls as the hosts reached 135/2 at the halfway stage. Kishan and Nitish Kumar Reddy (30 off 15b, 4×4, 1×6) never took their foot off the pedal.

Kishan clobbered Archer for three sixes in the 13th over and another off Farooqi as the hosts reached 200 in the 15th over. Heinrich Klaasen then took over, smacking 34 off just 14 deliveries (5×4, 1×6).
After adding 56 runs with Kishan, Klaasen holed out in the penultimate over. But Kishan smashed two sixes and ran a brace in the same over to reach his century off 45 deliveries.
At 273/3 in 19 overs, the hosts looked like getting the highest total overall. But Deshpande bowled a good final over.
Brief scores: SRH 286/6 (Ishan Kishan 106 not out, Travis Head 67, Heinrich Klaasen 34, Nitish Kumar Reddy 30; Tushar Deshpande 3/44) beat RR 242/6 (Dhruv Jurel 70, Sanju Samson 66, Shimron Hetmyer 42, Shubham Dubey 34 not out; Harshal Patel 2/34) by 44 runs.