‘That is your job’: What Abhishek Sharma told Ishan Kishan after IPL auction

“(After the IPL auction) 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.’ That is the best part,” the 26-year-old Kishan recalled at the press conference after the Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals game.

Ishan Kishan of Sunrisers Hyderabad celebrates his after scoring his 100 runs during match 2 of the Indian Premier League season 18 (IPL 2025) between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals held at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. (Photo: Sportzpics for IPL)

In his first game for SRH, Kishan scored the third-fastest century for SRH. He’s only trailing teammate Travis Head and IPL 2016-winning captain David Warner. On Sunday, coming in to bat at no 3 for SRH, Kishan scored 106 runs from 47 balls, with his blitz including 11 fours and six sixes.

“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,” Kishan said.