Harry Brook's lightning ton which was coupled with clinical spells from bowlers propelled Sunrisers Hyderabad to an emphatic 23-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in match number 19 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Eden Gardens Stadium on Friday (April 14).
Brook struck a spectacular 55-ball 100, which was IPL 2023's first century so far, to help the Orange Army post a colossal total of 228/4. Notably, 228 is by far the highest total posted by any team in the sixteenth season of the IPL. In reply KKR did show an intent to win the match but were pegged by SRH's disciplined bowling attack and were restricted to 205/7 despite the counter-attacking knocks from Nitish Rana (75 off 41) and Rinku Singh (58 off 31). Mayank Markande and Marco Jansen were the pick of the bowlers for SRH as they both snared two wickets each for the winning cause.
Notably, Brooks, who was roped in by SRH for a whopping Rs 13.25 crore in the IPL 2023 auction, is now the first and only cricketer to score a century in both PSL & IPL.
The chase was never easy for KKR from the word go as they had to maintain a run-rate of almost 11 per over. But KKR skipper Rana ((75 off 41) made his intention clear from the start that come what may he will give it a shot. He belted six maximums and found a perfect ally in Rinku (58 not out off 31) as the duo stitched together 69-run partnership in only 6.2 overs after the former champions were reeling at 96/5 in first half of KKR's innings.
But T Natarajan got the better of Rana and it was all upto Rinku to score more 57 off the last three overs. The match didn't end there as the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/29) conceded 10 in the 18th over and Natarajan went for 16 in the second last one. With Rinku on strike Nitish's side needed 32 off the ultimate over and the flashes started coming in off KKR's last encounter with GT when Rinku won the match for the two-time champions by depositing five sixes on the trot off Yash Dayal's last over.
Rinku tried his best but couldn't replicate his earlier heroics as Umran Malik (1/36) conceded only eight runs off the last over and won it for his team.
Earlier, KKR won the toss and decided to bowl first against Hyderabad after which SRH dished out a super batting display. England batting star Harry Brook notched up his first century of IPL 2023 to help his team pile up a mammoth 228/4 against KKR. Hyderabad got their best ever start in the season by hitting four fours and two sixes inside the first three overs.
Brooks almost got out when he was batting on 45. He made most of the lifeline by smashing 12 fours and three sixes to attain 55-ball-100. No doubt that the KKR bowlers tonight helped Brooks find his lost rhythm back as he could score just 29 runs in his first three matches in IPL 2023.
Apart from Brooks, another SRH star who was brilliant with the bat against KKR was Aiden Markram. The Hyderabad captain played a captain's knock, scoring a quickfire 26-ball fifty and also stitched up a 47-balls 72 run partnership with Brooks. The duo raced to quick fifties to keep their run-rate near the 10-run mark. After Markram returned to pavilion, Abhishek Sharma (32; 17b) provided fine support to Brooks as the duo added up 72 runs (33b) to pile on KKR's misery.
Heinrich Klaasen then played a cameo of 16 not out in six balls as SRH dished out a superlative batting display.
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