Brook’s blistering ton breaks KKR heart

Press Trust Of India

Kolkata: England’s new batting sensation Harry Brook brought a high-flying Kolkata Knight Riders down to earth with a sensational 55-ball century as Sunrisers Hyderabad cantered to its second victory by 23 runs in an IPL match, here on Saturday.

Young Brook finally managed to crack the IPL code in style with SRH managing a massive 228 for 4 in their stipulated 20 overs on a batting beauty. Their bowlers despite some hammering from home skipper Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh were restricted to 205 for 7 in 20 overs.

Brook, who was roped in after his exploits in Pakistan, finally announced his arrival in style, when he smashed four fours and two sixes inside first three overs to give SRH the best start of the season. Bought by SRH for a whopping Rs 13.25 crore, Brook had managed only 29 in first three games but found his rhythm with a 55- ball-100 as he smashed 12 fours and three sixes.

This was 16th edition’s first century. In reply, it was always going to be difficult for KKR to maintain a run-rate of 11 plus per over but skipper Rana (75 off 41 balls) did launch into SRH bowlers with half a dozen sixes and had ‘Man of the Moment’ Rinku Singh (58 not out off 31 balls) for company in their 69-run stand off only 6.2 overs.

This was after KR were reduced to 96 fo 5 within first 10 overs. Once T Natarajan got rid of Rana, it was left to Rinku to pull off yet another heist as 57 were needed off last three overs. But Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/29 in 4 overs) gave 10 in the 18th over while Natarajan (1/54 in 4 overs) went for 16 in the penultimate over.

With Rinku on strike and 32 needed off last over, Umran Malik (1/36 in 2 overs) came back well to dismiss Shardul Thakur with the first delivery and effectively sealing the game as the southpaw was stranded at the other end for first two deliveries. Rinku face four balls but Umran bowled fast and full to keep him under check with only eight runs being conceded.

Brief scores: SRH 228/4 in 20 overs (Harry Brooks 100 not out, Aiden Markram 50; Andre Russell 3/22) vs KKR 205/7 in 20 overs (Nitish Rana 75, Rinku Singh 58 not ou; Mayank Markande 2/27)