SRH's Ishan Kishan plays a shot during IPL T20 cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Friday, May 23, 2025.
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: Powered by an aggressive unbeaten 94 by Ishan Kishan, Sunrisers Hyderabad flexed their batting muscles to reach an imposing 231 for six against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in an IPL match here on Friday.
Once they were sent in to bat first, the Hyderabad side went ballistic from the beginning through usual suspects — Abhishek Sharma (34, 17b) and Travis Head (17, 10b) before Kishan finding his range during his 48-ball knock studded with seven fours and five sixes.
The famed 'Travi-shek' added 54 runs in just four overs, as the left-handers blitzed RCB new ball bowlers Yash Dayal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with a flurry of fours and sixes.
Bhuvneshwar conceded 18 runs in the second over as Head hammered him for a boundary, followed by a six and another four by Abhishek.
Just as the alliance began to touch dangerous proportions, Abhishek flicked Lungi Ngidi straight into the waiting hands of Phil Salt at square leg as the innings that played at a strike-rate of 200 came to an end.
Head too did not last long as the Aussie lobbed a knuckle ball from Bhuvneshwar to Romario Shepherd at the edge of the circle.
It soon transpired into a trend in SRH innings as their batters, except Kishan, engaged in mindless aggression.
Of course, there have been a slew of loose balls by RCB bowlers but they also managed some good ones in between.
The dismissals of Heinrich Klaasen (24, 13b) and Aniket Verma (26, 9b) underscored that point, as both of them had helped Kishan to milk 48 and 43 runs for the third wicket and fourth wicket alliance respectively.
Klaasen, who punished Suyash Sharma for a four and six, fell to the leg-spinner, lofting his googly to Shepherd at long-on.
Aniket looked so promising but disrespecting a slightly slower, short of length delivery from left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya led to his ouster, giving a simple catch to Bhuvneshwar.
But Kishan was a constant amidst all these fumblings at the other end, playing with a sensible head and adequate rhythm.
The left-handed power-hitter has been off-colour after that century in the initial part of the IPL, but showed glimpses of his destructive powers in this innings.
He never overdid things like some of his colleagues, and the measured six off Bhuvneshwar in the last ball of the 18th over was a treat to watch as he galloped to his first fifty in 10 innings in 28 balls.
But the sight of Tim David walking off the field in the final over the innings in what appeared to be a hamstring trouble isn't good news for the Royal Challengers.