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England's young batter Harry Brook became the first batter to score a hundred in IPL 2023 as he broke his run of low scores and justified his hefty price tag of INR 13.25 crores. The 24-year-old reached the elusive milestone in the final over of the day with a single down the ground off Umesh Yadav's bowling.
Brook, who came in as one of the most anticipated players of the marquee edition, started his tournament with 13, 3, and 13 and faced criticism. However, the Yorkshire batter has bounced back in style with an unbeaten 100 off 55 balls, laced with 12 fours and three sixes. As a result, the Sunrisers Hyderabad have also amassed the highest total of the season with 228-4.
Along with Brook, skipper Aiden Markram and Abhishek Sharma also shone as the former smashed 50 off 26 balls. Markram shared a 72-run stand with the Englishman, who added as many with Sharma. Andre Russell proved to be the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2.1-0-22-3. Keeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen stayed unbeaten at 16 off six deliveries with two boundaries and a maximum.
"Wanted to use the powerplay to my advantage" - Harry Brook
Following his maiden IPL ton, the youngster admitted his struggles against spin; hence, he let the other batters do the hitting against them by playing it safe. The right-hander revealed that his girlfriend has accompanied him here and feels his family will be over the moon.
He said in the mid-innings break:
"I’ve had a bit of trouble with spin, but I wanted to use the powerplay to my advantage. 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."
The 2016 champions lost their first two games before opening their account against the Punjab Kings in Hyderabad.
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