Ishan Kishan credits team atmosphere after scoring first IPL hundred

Kishan scored a wonderful, free-flowing 106 not out off just 47 balls, his first ever century in the Indian Premier League to help Hyderabad to a stunning total of 286/6 off their 20 overs.

It was clearly a batter-friendly wicket, though, as the Rajasthan Royals got closer than many would have expected in their chase, reaching 242/6 in their 20 overs to lose by 44 runs.

"I just feel good," Kishan said after the match. "It [century] was coming. I was hoping for it in the previous years, but it's good to get it this season. The team is doing well, the environment is very different. I'm just loving everything overall, just let's try and get a few more innings like this for the team.

"The skipper, he's giving a lot of freedom to everyone. Doesn't matter if you get a lot of runs or if you get out early. Until and unless you're doing everything for the team, it's all fair. That's the confidence every player in the team needs, so hats off to him and the management.

"When Abhishek and Head started, they gave a lot of confidence to us batters in the dugout," Kishan said. "Credit goes to them also. Whenever you get such good starts, you just have to go. You can take a few balls if you want.

"It gives a lot of benefit to the No. 3 and No. 4 batters [in getting their eye in]. Credit goes to them. The pitch was really good, we were just trying to get them under pressure at any point of time, trying to get all their best bowlers to bowl around the 12-13th over, so that worked our way."