'How dysfunctional that Mumbai setup was last year': Former New Zealand pacer's scathing remark after Ishan Kishan's maiden IPL ton on SRH debut

Ishan Kishan revealed that he got clarity of role at Sunrisers Hyderabad and a license to attack whenever he feels the ball is there to hit.

Sports Tak

• Mon • 24 Mar 2025

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Ishan Kishan celebrates after scoring a century (100 runs) during the Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Rajasthan Royals at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on March 23, 2025.

Highlights:

Ishan Kishan scored the third-fastest century for SRH.

Kishan remained unbeaten for 106 off 47 balls.

Kishan helped SRH post 286 runs on the board.

Former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull has called Mumbai Indians (MI) set up of previous edition as 'dysfunctional' after Ishan Kishan smashed an unbeaten century on his Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) debut. At no.3, Kishan wreaked havoc at SRH's homeground against Rajasthan Royals (RR) bowlers. Doull credited SRH's environment for instilling confidence into the 26-year-old as he took down RR's bowling lineup and helped the hosts post second-highest total in IPL history.

"For him, sometimes you just need a change. You just need a change in environment. We talked about how dysfunctional that Mumbai setup was last year. And for him to come into this setup and do what he did," Doull said on Cricbuzz.

"Remember he came out, and straight after Abhishek got out, he just carried on as we talked about needing to do whatever Travis Head and Abhishek had done and just carry on. I mean, one of his first two balls went down the ground for four, and he just never looked like missing out from there. And it was a show of sometimes a new environment, new coaches, just simple messages, probably. Suddenly, you feel like, I can still do this. I'm back. Hopefully, that's a catalyst for them for the rest of the season," the former Kiwi pacer added.

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Kishan gets clarity at SRH

In the post-match press conference, Kishan also revealed that the message from the SRH team management has been very clear. They want him to go for big shots if he feels the ball is in the zone.

"I could actually see, and I could actually feel it before we played this game," Kishan said. "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."

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Kishan scored 106 runs from 47 balls. He reached his century from just 45 balls, third-highest for the franchise. His knock was studded with 11 fours and three sixes. SRH got early wickets and won the match by a comfortable margin of 44 runs despite Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel's fifties and Shimrton Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey's cameos.