Abhishek Sharma Ishan Kishan for SRH. Image Credits: AFP/AP
Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Ishan Kishan recently played a blazing knock of 79 off 46 balls against RCB in the IPL 2026 clash. However, despite heroics, Kishan was ignored in the SRH dressing room.
The SRH vs RCB match took place on May 22 at the Uppal Stadium, where Hyderabad came out all guns blazing to put a powerful total of 255 runs on the board.
Abhishek Sharma, Heinrich Klaasen and Ishan Kishan scored half-centuries, while Travis Head and Nitish Reddy also contributed significantly to put Hyderabad in a winning position.
Ishan Kishan humiliated in the SRH dressing room
Meanwhile, RCB appeared listless in the chase and could only score 200 runs as SRH grabbed a 55-run victory to finish the IPL 2026 league stage on a winning note.
Back in the dressing room, Sunrisers Hyderabad support staff were handing out an award for their best performer of the game. Ishan Kishan was confident that he would be chosen as the winner.
When a member of the coaching staff said the name 'Ishan', Kishan stood up, thinking the staff had called him out. However, the actual reality was far more embarrassing.
The SRH coaching staff didn’t say ‘Ishan’ but ‘Eshan Malinga'. However, since the pronunciation of both their first names is similar, Kishan got confused. He had an embarrassing smile on his face and sat back down, hiding his face.
Meanwhile, the SRH dressing room burst into laughter and enjoyed the light-hearted environment.
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Why did Eshan Malinga win the best performer award?
While Ishan Kishan did create a huge impact with the bat, Eshan Malinga also made a vital contribution with the ball. He picked up 2 important wickets of Venkatesh Iyer and Devdutt Padikkal while conceding just 33 runs in his four overs.
After that, RCB didn’t even try to chase down the total. Rajat Patidar and Krunal Pandya stitched an 84-run partnership to avoid a collapse since RCB needed to score at least 160 runs to finish in the top 2 standings of the points table.
And RCB did achieve that by finishing at 200/4. With that, SRH finished in third spot, while RCB and GT will now compete in Qualifier 1.
Ishan Kishan’s impact goes way beyond dressing room applause (Conclusion)
That being said, dressing room applause are important as they boost a player’s morale. However, a single award doesn’t reflect or undermine their overall impact.
As for Ishan Kishan, he has done more for SRH than any award could justify. In 14 IPL 2026 games, he has scored 569 runs at an average of 40.64, including six fifties.
Not only that, Kishan led SRH to victories at a crucial time when Pat Cummins was unavailable as captain. Hence, these small contributions often go unnoticed, but that doesn’t mean Ishan Kishan is any less than his peers.
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