IPL 2023: Harry Brook’s century powers SRH to second straight win after high-scoring affair vs KKR

Harry Brook’s scored the first century of the Indian Premier League season as Sunrisers Hyderabad registered their second straight win, defeating Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday.

Brook’s 55-ball 100* powered SRH to 228/4, with useful contributions from captain Aiden Markram and Abhishek Sharma. Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana gave KKR some hope in the run-chase but SRH had enough on the board to win by 23 runs.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was particularly impressive for SRH, with figures of 1/29 in a high-scoring match while leg-spinner Mayank Markande also shone with 2/27. Marco Jansen had pegged KKR back with two wickets in one early on, but KKR’s middle order once again rallied. But this time there was no miracle recovery for the Kolkata franchise.

England sensation Brook hit 12 fours and three sixes in 55-ball 100 after Rana won the toss and decided to field first.

The young opener was supported by powerful hitting by Hyderabad captain Aiden Markram (50) and Abhishek Sharma (32) who stitched two key half-century partnerships with Brook.

West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell was the most effective Kolkata bowler and took 3-22 before he went off the field because of an injury concern at the start of his third over.

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy took the only other Hyderabad wicket while New Zealand’s Lockie Ferguson was the most expensive Kolkata bowler and leaked 37 runs in two overs.

Kolkata made the worst possible start after Afghanistan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz fell to India veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a duck in the first over of the chase.

South African Marco Jansen removed Venkatesh Iyer (10) and Sunil Narine (0) off consecutive balls before Rana stabilised the innings with opener Narayan Jagadeesan (36).

Rana hit 41-ball 75 before falling to T Natarajan in a spirited batting display with Rinku.

Rinku, who blasted five sixes off the final five balls to help Kolkata stun champions Gujarat Titans in an IPL thriller on Sunday, hit an unbeaten 31-ball 58 with four fours and four sixes.

Hyderabad pacers Kumar, Jansen, Natarajan and Umran Malik shared five wickets.

The Kolkata bowlers could have restricted Hyderabad to a lower score, skipper Rana said after the match.

Player-of-the-match Brook described it as “a special night” and said that “this knock is definitely up the there” with my other top performances.

As a result of the win SRH moved to seventh on the table, winning two on the trot after losing two on the trot to start the season. KKR remained fourth.

With AFP inputs