At 25, Abhishek Sharma is already in his eighth season at Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).

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.

On Tuesday night, Abhishek’s 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.

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.

“Obviously, when he comes to Hyderabad, when he comes to this stadium, and when he’s in the team’s midst, it’s his safe space. He’s done so well here over the years and he has that confidence that he’s the man,” SRH bowling coach Varun Aaron said.

“But you can’t negate the amount of work James Franklin (assistant coach) and J. Hariesh (batting coach) have put in. They’ve had long chats with him. Today, he said that the plan was very simple — 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’s what we’re seeing at the moment.”

Abhishek is well on his way to having his best IPL season yet.

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.

“When you play a high-risk, high-reward game, sometimes it doesn’t work out and you have to give a player like Abhishek that leeway,” said Aaron.