England batter Harry Brook finally lived up to his reputation in the ongoing Indian Premier League season 16 as he played a sensational knock of 100* off 55 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday, April 14 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Brook became the first centurion of the ongoing season as he helped Sunrisers Hyderabad post a massive total of 228/4 in the first innings.
The 24-year-old was under immense pressure as he had only scored 29 runs in the first three innings and wasn’t able to justify his price tag of INR 13.25 crore. However, he answered all his critics in style with his breathtaking innings while opening for the second time in the season.
Talking to the commentators after his incredible knock, Brook joked about the fact that he couldn’t score runs when his family was in India but as soon as they left he ended up scoring a century leaving the commentators in splits.
“My girlfriend is here but the rest of my family have just left. I was sure that after they leave I would get some runs (laughs). No, honestly, I am sure they’ll all be very happy for me,” Brook said while speaking to the broadcasters.
Brook was supported by Markram and Abhishek Sharma
Brook’s innings was studded with three sixes and 12 fours as he came to the crease with an attacking intent and kept on hitting the bowlers despite his side losing two wickets in the powerplay. He got good support from captain Aiden Markram who scored 50 off 26 balls as the duo added 72 runs for the third wicket off 47 balls.
He further got involved in another 72-run stand with Abhishek Sharma off just 33 balls and took SRH’s total past 220. Kolkata gave a tough fight in the second innings but could only reach 205/7 in their allotted 20 overs courtesy of half centuries from Nitish Rana (75 off 41) and Rinku Singh (58* off 31).
By the virtue of this win, SRH climbed to the seventh spot in the points table having won two out of their four matches.