Ambati Rayudu reckons Ishan Kishan’s game has opened up since he left the star-packed Mumbai Indians dressing room. The wicketkeeper-batter spent seven seasons in Mumbai colours before Sunrisers Hyderabad snapped him up at the 2025 auction, and he is now piecing together the best IPL campaign of his career.
“Kishan’s shot selection has improved big-time,” Rayudu told ESPNcricinfo Time Out while chatting alongside Aaron Finch. He then unpacked why a change of environment might have been useful. “But for someone like him [Kishan], growing up in a franchise like Mumbai, he wants to be a superstar – he is a superstar in his own right now – but back then to compete against all the stars around him would have been very, very tough.”
Rayudu knows the territory. He played for Mumbai from 2009 to 2017 and admits the glamour never really bothered him. He suggested Kishan may have needed space to breathe. “Those guys know when to switch on in terms of their game, when to come back. But a lot of these young boys don’t know how to switch off and how to switch on. That’s a big challenge and I’m sure he has learnt and he has learnt it the hard way.”
The numbers back up Rayudu’s hunch. Heading into the play-offs, Kishan sits fifth on the 2026 Orange Cap table: 569 runs in 14 knocks, average 40.64, strike-rate 178.36. Friday’s 79 from 46 balls against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, laced with four sixes and plenty of restraint, brought him a sixth half-century for the season. Until now he had never gone beyond three fifties in a single IPL.
Rayudu highlighted that maturity has crept into Kishan’s decision-making. “In his initial years, we have seen him make some wrong decisions in terms of shot selection. But here we saw him making the right call most of the time.”
Captaincy for Jharkhand has also played a part, Rayudu feels. “I think his captaincy for Jharkhand made him realise a lot of things about his own game as well. Sometimes when you get captaincy, people transform into better batsmen and he is one of them who has massively improved in terms of clarity.”
Kishan will get another chance to show that clarity when Sunrisers meet the Royal Challengers again in Qualifier 2. One more solid knock and his old side might be watching a potential Orange Cap winner they once let go.
