"You go on social media, and people are calling you rubbish" - Harry Brook calls out critics after whirlwind IPL hundred

Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Harry Brook hit back at his critics on social media after blasting a hundred against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday at the Eden Gardens in the IPL. Brook admitted to feeling pressure after not starting the tournament well.

Brook became the first centurion of IPL 2023, staying unbeaten on 100 off 50 deliveries to propel the SunRisers to a daunting total of 228. The Englishman started the tournament with scores of 13, 3 and 13 but lit up the Eden Gardens to justify his hefty price tag of INR 13.5 crore.

At the post-match presentation, Brook said that he's happy to bat anywhere and enjoyed batting at the Eden Gardens.

"Was a special night. Thankfully we got over the line as well. Got a little tense in the middle. A lot of people say that opening the batting in T20 is the best time to bat. I'm happy to bat anywhere. I've had a lot of success batting at five. Made my name there. My four Test hundreds will have to be over this one. The crowd was phenomenal tonight. I enjoyed it."

Talking about his earlier failures, the Yorkshire batter took a dig at fans and is happy to prove them wrong.

"I was putting pressure on myself a little bit. You go on social media, and people are calling you rubbish. There's a lot of Indian fans out there who'll say well done tonight. But they were slagging me off a few days ago. Glad I could shut them up, to be honest."

The 23-year-old added 72 runs apiece with Aiden Markram and Abhishek Sharma to carry the Sunrisers to the highest total of IPL 2023. The youngster reached the three-figure mark in the final over of the innings.

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Harry Brook hundred trumps explosive fifties by Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh

Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana (Credits: Twitter)

Chasing a daunting target of 229, the Knight Riders didn't have the desired start, as Sunil Narine and Rahmanullah Gurbaz fell for ducks. With Andre Russell also falling cheaply, the two-time champions sank to 96-5 in the 11th over.

Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh combined to add 69, with the latter hitting 28 runs off an over from Umran Malik. Left-arm seamer Natarajan dismissed Rana for 75 off 41, and the Sunrisers were in full control from that point. Rinku stayed unbeaten on 57, but his side fall 23 runs short.