Having been traded to the franchise after just one season with Delhi Capitals in 2018, the southpaw from Punjab has acquired an imposing aura in orange, garnering the unconditional affection of a quintessentially easy-going Hyderabadi crowd with his daring stroke-play.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday night, Abhishek\u2019s stature at SRH rose further as his second Indian Premier League (IPL) hundred helped the side hammer his former franchise by 47 runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.<\/p>\n
By hitting an unbeaten 135 off 68 balls to follow a knock of 59 against Chennai Super Kings, he has reinforced the sense that his lean patch for India at the T20 World Cup was an anomaly.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, when he comes to Hyderabad, when he comes to this stadium, and when he\u2019s in the team\u2019s midst, it\u2019s his safe space. He\u2019s done so well here over the years and he has that confidence that he\u2019s the man,\u201d SRH bowling coach Varun Aaron said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you can\u2019t negate the amount of work James Franklin (assistant coach) and J. Hariesh (batting coach) have put in. They\u2019ve had long chats with him. Today, he said that the plan was very simple \u2014 just to bat till the last over. Our coaching staff, especially the batting staff, has put in a lot of work with him and that\u2019s what we\u2019re seeing at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abhishek is well on his way to having his best IPL season yet.<\/p>\n
His 323 runs in seven matches have come at an excellent average of 53.83 and an equally exemplary strike rate of 215.33. He has also had two ducks, but he is clearly deserving of extra leeway.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you play a high-risk, high-reward game, sometimes it doesn\u2019t work out and you have to give a player like Abhishek that leeway,\u201d said Aaron.<\/p>\n
Published on Apr 22, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n