Harry Brook lit up the Indian Premier League with an unbeaten century to set up a 23 run win for Sunrisers Hyderabad over Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata on Friday. Brook hit 12 fours and three sixes in 55-ball 100 that took Hyderabad to 228/4.
IPL 2023: Harry Brook’s century powers SRH to second straight win after high-scoring affair vs KKR
Batting in the middle order for the first two games, Brook was promoted up the order to bat alongside Mayank Agarwal. Touted as a future superstar of the game, Brook announced his arrival in style against KKR, when he smashed four fours and two sixes inside first three overs to give SRH an explosive start in the powerplay at 65/2.
Although Brook said during the mid-innings interview that he had told the franchise that if he was to open the batting for the rest of the competition, he would get a hundred but also went on to say that he is happy to bat at a position the team needs.
Talking about his innings, Brook said, “It was a special night. A lot of people say that opening the batting in T20s is the best time to bat since there are only two people (outside the inner fielding circle). But I’m happy to bat anywhere. I’ve had quite a bit of success batting at No 5, I’ve probably made my name batting at No 5 in T20 cricket. I’m happy to do whatever the team needs.”
Brook had sparked interest among the IPL franchises in the auction due to an impressive international career but also after his performance in the Pakistan Super League where he had scored 264 runs for Lahore Qalandars in eight innings, including a century. In Tests too, he already has an impressive start with 809 runs including four centuries and three fifties in 10 innings.
He said, “Unfortunately, my four Test hundreds are going to have to be above this one. But it’s definitely up there.”
IPL 2023: Harry Brook signals arrival with superb century in KKR vs SRH – ‘Welcome to the IPL’
Bought by SRH for a whopping Rs 13.25 crore, the English batter admitted to feeling some pressure having scored just 29 in three games before this. However, Brook finally came to his own with the century and got around cracking the IPL code.
He said, “I was putting pressure on myself a little bit after the first few games. If you go on social media, people were calling me rubbish, and you start to slightly doubt yourself a little bit. I just went out with a ‘I don’t care’ mentality tonight, and thankfully it came off. Indian fans out there are probably gonna be saying ‘Well done’ tonight, but they were slagging me off a few days ago. I am glad that I can shut them up to be honest.”
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