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Harry Brook has emerged as one of the finest T20 talents in the past couple of years. The 23-year-old English batter is extremely exciting to watch. He was also a part of the England team that won the T20 World Cup last month.
Brook has a very impressive T20 career record, scoring 2,432 runs in 93 innings at an average of 34 and a strike rate of 148. He has batted at number 4 and 5 for the majority of his career - a position that most IPL teams will want to strengthen at this year's auction.
Let's take a look at the 3 IPL teams that should target Brook at the IPL 2023 auction.
#1 Punjab Kings
Punjab Kings have retained 16 players ahead of the 2023 auction. They have a purse of INR 32.2 crores, with 9 slots (6 Indian and 3 overseas) left to fill. Looking at their current squad, the only apparent overseas starters are Jonny Bairstow, Kagiso Rabada, and Liam Livingstone.
Their playing eleven could shape up as follows - Shikhar Dhawan (C), <Indian opener>, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, <overseas finisher>, Jitesh Sharma (wk), <Indian all-rounder>, <Indian bowler>, Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh. The franchise needs to be smart at the auction in order to build a potent team for the upcoming edition of the tournament.
If PBKS can sign Harry Brook, he will most likely compete for a slot with Sri Lankan batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa. He could also be the replacement for Bairstow in case of injury or unavailability.
#2 Sunrisers Hyderabad
SRH have a good squad on paper ahead of the IPL auctions. Releasing Kane Williamson and Nicholas Pooran has also given them a purse of INR 42.25 crores coming into the IPL auctions - the highest for any team. They have 13 slots (9 Indian and 4 overseas) slots left to fill.
As of now, the Sunrisers have potentially 2 overseas slots left to fill in their playing XI. They will be looking for appropriate replacements for the New Zealand and West Indies batters. The 23-year-old Englishman could be the perfect replacement for Nicholas Pooran's role in the playing XI.
A batting lineup of Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, Aiden Markram, Glenn Phillips, and Harry Brook covers quite a few major bases for the Hyderabad-based franchise. The openers have the right intent to attack in the powerplay overs and youngsters Phillips and Brook are extremely talented middle-order batters. Markram could assume the anchor role in such a setup.
#3 Lucknow Supergiants
Lucknow Supergiants have retained 15 players ahead of the 2023 auction. They have a purse of INR 23.3 crores, with 10 slots (6 Indian and 4 overseas) left to fill. Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, and Mark Wood are expected to be the first-choice overseas starters for the Lucknow-based franchise.
If LSG eventually sign the Englishman, their batting order could look like this - KL Rahul, de Kock, Manan Vohra, Deepak Hooda, Brook, Stoinis, and Krunal Pandya. This seems to be an extremely potent line-up on paper if the players can perform their respective roles properly.
In the aforementioned batting order, Brook can float according to the situation in the game and the requirements of the team. He has a solid base against pace bowling and the correct intent when it comes to taking down spin in the middle overs.
