Kishan's maiden IPL ton powers SRH to 287

New IPL season. Same-old Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). They looked to launch every ball into orbit and threatened to hit 300 for the first time in the IPL. They eventually fell 14 short of 300, and just one short of their own record of the highest IPL total.

Ishan Kishan, SRH's new recruit, marked his franchise debut with a 45-ball century - his first in the IPL. Kishan is an upgrade over their previous No.3, Rahul Tripathi, and seamlessly slotted into SRH's sixy batting line-up.

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma had laid the platform with a 45-run opening partnership off just 19 balls. The stand ended when Maheesh Theekshana hid the ball away from Abhishek's reach and had him caught at point for 24 off 11 balls. The assault was so unfettered that SRH forced Rajasthan Royals (RR) into doing death bowling from the powerplay onwards. SRH plundered 94 in the first six overs, the fifth-highest powerplay total in the IPL.

Head continued his boundary-hitting spree along with Kishan in an 85-run stand off 38 balls. During that period, it appeared like 300 was within SRH's reach.

Kishan announced himself with back-to-back fours off mystery spinner Theekshana and went onto bring up his fifty off 25 balls. He needed only 20 more balls for his hundred.

Head had also looked good for a century of his own until Tushar Deshpande struck in his first over and had him holing out for 67 off 31 balls. Nitish Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen also joined the fun as SRH kept finding or clearing the boundaries.

Each of SRH's top six, including IPL debutant Aniket Verma struck at over 200. Jofra Archer had a rough return to the IPL, coming away with 4-0-76-0, the most expensive spell in the IPL.