Ishan’s unbeaten century lights up Sunrisers Hyderabad’s season opener

Masterclass: Ishan Kishan headlined Sunrisers’ explosive batting, notching up his maiden IPL century in just 47 balls. | Photo: K.V.S. Giri

New season, rejigged teams but the same old Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The power-packed battling lineup of SRH, headlined by Ishan Kishan’s unbeaten century, guided it to a 44-run win over Rajasthan Royals in its Indian Premier League (2025) season opener at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Sunday.

Abhishek Sharma gave the home side an explosive start, smacking Fazalhaq Farooqi for five boundaries in his opening spell before falling to Maheesh Theekshana. With SRH crossing the 50-run mark in just four overs, Riyan Parag brought Jofra Archer into the attack.

Travis Head showed no mercy, smashing four boundaries and a monstrous 106-meter six, much to the delight of the boisterous home crowd. He kept the fireworks going beyond the PowerPlay, bringing up his half-century in 21 balls. Tushar Deshpande, back after a long injury layoff, brought the Australian’s assault to an end in the 10th over.

The newly-signed Ishan then broke free with Nitish Kumar Reddy for company. He pummelled Archer for back-to-back sixes to register a blistering half-century, off 25 balls. 

Buoyed by the quickfire start, the former MI keeper-batter kept the runs flowing. In the penultimate over, he cleared the fence on either side of the wicket to notch up his maiden IPL ton. 

The 287-run target, set with a boundary off the final ball, was daunting and the Royals stumbled right at the start. Simarjeet Singh sent Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag packing in his first over to widen the distance between the two teams. Mohammed Shami seeing off Nitish Rana back to the pavilion deepened Royals’ troubles. 

Sanju Samson (66 off 37 balls) and Dhruv Jurel (70 off 35 balls) forged a brave resistance with a 111-run stand for the fourth wicket. However, both fell in the space of three balls, the former to Harshal Patel and the latter to Adam Zampa.

The Royals then found it difficult to keep up with the mounting run-rate, despite Shubham Dubey and Shimron Hetmyer’s best efforts. In a ground that has traditionally favoured the chasing teams (1.235 W/L ratio in IPL), SRH bucked the trend to begin its campaign on a victorious note.