Kept All Negative Thoughts Out Before Coming Into IPL: Ishan Kishan

About a year ago, Ishan Kishan was removed from BCCI's central contract for allegedly not prioritising domestic cricket. Since then, he has not played for India, and his performances in the domestic circuit have not been that great.

However, he started off the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 with a bang, slamming a superb hundred, and helped his side to a comfortable 44-run victory against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Hyderabad on March 23 (Sunday).

While not having the BCCI contract is a blow for Kishan, who was once on the cusp of cementing his place in the Indian Test side, he said that he kept all such negative thoughts out of his mind before entering the tournament.

"Whatever the situation was, I think I was never a person who was thinking about those bad moments," Kishan, who was bought for INR 11.25 crore, said after the match. 

"I was very much in the present, like what's needed. Yeah, I need to perform, I need to do good for me, whatever I'll do, it will help me end of the day. So I just planned to get all the negative thoughts out and just think about what's ahead, like IPL was coming up.

"So, yeah, I was just doing my hard work and, like I said to my loved ones, it was more about my family, the fans who were always there, the ones who are here supporting me today. Like I said, my brother was there. So it was just for them. Coming to SRH, playing in Hyderabad, the first game, setting up a good total for the team, so all together it was a very happy moment for me."

Kishan revealed he called Abhishek Sharma right after SRH bought him at the auction, who said it was his job to 'whack it' from ball one. 

"I straightaway called Abhishek 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," Kishan said.

Kishan also acknowledged that the captain and the coaching staff have given him the utmost freedom to go about his business in the middle the way he fees apt. "I could actually see, and I could actually feel it before we played this game," Kishan, who slammed 106* off 47, said. 

"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."

Other than Kishan, Travis Head (67 off 31), Abhishek (24 off 11), Nitish Kumar Reddy (30 off 15) and Heinrich Klaasen (34 off 14) all played their part as SRH registered the second-highest total in IPL history - one short of equalling their own record of 287.

"Someone came in the middle with a water bottle and said we need to cross this total [their record of 287]," Kishan said. 

"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."

It promises to be yet another high-scoring encounter in Hyderabad as SRH welcome Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) next on March 27 (Thursday).