It was all about Ishan Kishan till Sunday evening, and didn’t he enjoy it? SunRisers Hyderabad’s latest superstar smashed a hundred on his debut for the franchise, saying the freedom he got at his new IPL home brings the best out of him. His match-winning 106* helped the hosts beat Rajasthan Royals by 44 runs in their tournament opener, and Kishan had everyone but captain Pat Cummins to credit this win for, whom he thanked for backing him.

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Kishan played for seven seasons at Mumbai Indians, winning the IPL trophy thrice, but the franchise decided against retaining him ahead of the mega auction late last year. At the auction, MI tried chasing him but fell shy of SRH, which bagged his services for $1.3m (INR 11.25 crore). The rest is there for everyone to see.

Meanwhile, Ishan walked out to bat at number three, a position he looked comfortable at on his maiden SRH outing. The left-handed batter took no time before unleashing himself on the opposition, taking the bowlers to the cleaners. If his onslaught against RR’s Jofra Archer inside the Powerplay was a trailer, his toiling of the remainder of the attack was a blockbuster show. 

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Kishan broke several records during his unbeaten knock, including becoming the first Indian player to score a hundred for SRH and the first on his debut for this side. Crediting the captain and the management for throwing trust behind him, Ishan said, 

"The skipper, he's giving a lot of freedom to everyone. Doesn't matter if you get a lot of runs or if you get out early. Until and unless you're doing everything for the team, it's all fair. That's the confidence every player in the team needs, so hats off to him and the management."

New position, new challenges, but same joy

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Ishan usually opened for Mumbai Indians, barring a couple of seasons where he batted down the order; however, in an attempt to shine at number three, he feels solid starts at the top are crucial, which was the case on Sunday.

"When Abhishek and Head started, they gave a lot of confidence to us batters in the dugout," Kishan said. "Credit goes to them also. Whenever you get such good starts, you just have to go. You can take a few balls if you want.

"It gives a lot of benefit to the No. 3 and No. 4 batters [in getting their eye in]. Credit goes to them. The pitch was really good, we were just trying to get them under pressure at any point of time, trying to get all their best bowlers to bowl around the 12-13th over so that worked our way,” he added.

(With inputs from agencies)