- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
English batter Harry Brook on Friday (14) came up with a dazzling hundred after Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata to become the first centurion of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL)
Hyderabad bought the 24-year-old cricketer for a whopping Rs 13.25 crore in the auction for IPL 2023 in Kochi in the southern state of Kerala in December last year. He is the most expensive cricketer the franchise has bought in its history.
Brook slammed 100 not out in just 55 balls after coming out to open for SRH to power them to a formidable total of 228 for 4 in 20 overs after KKR won the toss and asked the visitors to bat first. He belted 12 fours and three sixes in his knock which helped Hyderabad post the highest total of the ongoing season.
He added 72 runs in less than eight overs for the third wicket with his captain Aiden Markram (50 off 26), laying the foundation of a big total.
“I’ve had a bit of trouble with spin, but I wanted to use the powerplay to my advantage,” Brook, who made his international debut in a T20 match against the West Indies in January 2022, said in the mid-innings break, according to The Indian Express.
“So middle overs wanted to rotate strike and let the other boys do the hitting. It is a belter of a pitch, we need to bowl our lengths rightly and take wickets. We still got a job to do. My girlfriend is here but the rest of my family have just left, I’m sure they’ll all be very happy for me.”
For KKR, Andre Russell was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets for 22 runs off his 2.1 overs after which he went off the ground in some discomfort.
SRH came into the game on the back of their first win against Punjab Kings after back to back losses. KKR on the other hand, registered consecutive wins against Bangalore and Gujarat after a first match defeat against Punjab.
In the last match on Sunday (9), Kolkata’s Rinku Singh slammed five consecutive sixes to give his side a memorable win over defending champions Gujarat in the same ground.
