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On March 24, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) made a statement as they posted the second-highest score in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Featuring in the SRH jersey for the first time, Ishan Kishan made a statement too with a blazing unbeaten century. After the 44-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) at home, Kishan revealed that during his knock he got a message from the dugout that they should go on and break their own record of highest total in IPL. The hosts came close to it as the posted 286/6.
'Player of the match' Kishan intends to go for it again. They also had the magical figure of 300 in sight. But wickets of Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma and Abhinav Manohar, caught on the boundary in the final two overs did not let them script history.
"Someone came in the middle with a water bottle and said we need to cross this total [their record of 287]," Kishan told the reporters after his maiden IPL century.
"I was like, I did not know if there was a target set or something, but yeah, when you don't achieve the goal, it's something like you want to do it again. We did not do it today, so it's good to have that target goal for us coming back. Some days [when] we get a good start, batters are set, we will try and definitely get a record total."
Kishan's interesting phone call with Abhishek after mega auction
After retaining most of their core batting lineup and the captain Pat Cummins, SRH's most expensive buy in the auction was Kishan. The former Mumbai Indians (MI) wicketkeeper-batter was roped in for Rs 11.25 crore. Kishan revealed that he called up Abhishek Sharma and asked him whether he needs to go for big shots from ball one to which the youngster said 'Yeah'.
"I straightaway called Abhishek [Sharma] and asked, 'what are you guys expecting, do I have to come and hit each and every ball?' He was like, 'on point, yeah, that is your job, you come here and you hit each and every ball, you just enjoy in this team.' And that is the best part," the 26-year-old recalled.
"I could actually see, and I could actually feel it before we played this game. 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."
Another opportunity for SRH
Kishan registered the third-fastest century for SRH after his teammate Travis Head and IPL 2016-winning captain David Warner. Coming in to bat at no.3, he scored 106 runs from 47 balls, including 11 fours and six sixes.
SRH's next clash is at home as well against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on March 27. Considering LSG have a depleted pace attack due to injuries, SRH will have another shot at breaking the record if they bat first.
