IPL 2026 – CSK vs SRH – Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell McClenaghan and James Franklin on Ishan Kishan’s innings

Travishek was meant to be the story for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2026, but Klaashan (or should it be Kissen?) has quietly become all the talk.

Their impact, especially in a season where Travis Head has been below his best, is easy to see on the Orange Cap table: Klaasen has 555 runs (more than anyone else as of Monday night) and Kishan has 490 (No. 7), Abhishek Sharma has 507 runs and is at No. 5 but Head is was below with 367 runs. Not bad at all, but nowhere near as good as the other three have been.

But it’s together that they have done the job for SRH. Head and Abhishek, of course, have been fantastic, with 645 runs together in 13 innings together in 51.4 overs. Kishan and Klaasen have scored 434 runs in seven associations in the middle, in just 39.3 overs. If Head and Abhishek go at a run rate of 12.48, Kishan and Klaasen go at 10.98, batting together outside the powerplay usually. Their average has been 62.00. Head and Abhishek have an average of 49.61.

But these numbers are to be expected. Travishek is meant to go hard, maximise the powerplay. Klaasen and Kishan are meant to build on the starts, or occasionally revive the innings from a bad start. Like on Monday, when Head fell in the third over for 6 and Abhishek was next to go, in the eighth over, for 26, uncharacteristically off 21 balls, underscoring the slowness of the pitch.

“So far in this year’s IPL, that was probably his [Kishan’s] best innings,” James Franklin, the SRH assistant coach, said at the press conference afterwards. “Just for the situation, the game, the surface – we are used to in the IPL playing on a lot of very flat surfaces that are conducive to power hitting, but today, batters had to craft their innings in a different way. And I thought Ishan’s innings today was just full of maturity, the way that he assessed what he needed to do and how he needed to do it, and obviously bat as deep as he could through the 20 overs.”

Kishan walked out in the third over and batted till the 19th. And he fell just six away from the target.

“Probably his emotional maturity wasn’t there [at the time]. He was just a kid when he played with us. But the way I’ve seen him change as a person, as a leader, and the maturity flowing into his batting has been sensational. There were some real captain’s knocks at the start of the tournament”
Mitchell McClenaghan on the evolution of Ishan Kishan

“Again, the partnership with Klassy was brilliant. Klassy’s been immense for us right through this IPL,” Franklin said. “It’s one of the best middle-order batting performances I think you’ll see through an IPL season, what he’s producing at the moment: reading the situation, batting at a tempo that keeps the scoreboard moving in a positive way and ultimately having a significant impact on games that were played.”

Back in the ESPNcricinfo studios after the game, Ambati Rayudu was thrilled with Kishan’s performance in particular.

“It was stopping, it was turning. And he was the guy who stood up, and he has stood up on a lot of difficult wickets [this season]. That shows that Ishan Kishan is absolutely versatile,” Rayudu said. “He can take on the bowlers but also adapt to conditions when they’re not that great. He’s an amazing asset to have in a team.

“And also, he has led the team when [Pat] Cummins was not there. So he’s someone that has grown into, I think, a massive, massive asset for any team that he plays for. And today’s knock was quite amazing. He played second fiddle when Klaasen was going. He didn’t take too many risks. But when he came to those moments under pressure, he picked his pockets [to score in]. It is not like he threw his bat at everything. He knew they were trying to bowl away from him. But still, he was composed enough to hit gaps.”

Mitchell McClenaghan and Rayudu were Kishan’s team-mates at Mumbai Indians (MI) till some years ago, and McClenaghan spoke of Kishan’s growing maturity as a person and as a player.

“We both played with him for years, and probably his emotional maturity wasn’t there [at the time],” McClenaghan said. “He was just a kid when he played with us. But the way I’ve seen him change as a person, as a leader, and the maturity flowing into his batting has been sensational. There were some real captain’s knocks at the start of the tournament.

“Sometimes when you come in as skipper and then you drop back out as skipper [you don’t have to worry about anything anymore]. You can do that as a captain if you’ve come in as a part-time captain. And what I like is that he hasn’t done that. He’s come in and he’s still thinking like a skipper and still leading the side.”

Fantastic as Kishan and Klaasen have been, doing different job for the team but doing them with equal efficiency, it’s really a four-batter plan. Even a five-batter plan if Nitish Kumar Reddy, who has been Klaasen’s ally on many occasions this season.

“Travishek – Abhi, Trav – they’re brutal at the top. So those four at the moment, it’s a pleasure for us to have them in our team,” Franklin said. “The way that they’re batting, the way they’re assessing games and the way they’re putting pressure back on to opposition bowling units.”

The result is that SRH are the second team to make the playoffs. And they continue to be a team the others can’t take it easy against.

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