England sensation Harry Brook lit up the IPL with an unbeaten century to set up a 23 run win for Sunrisers Hyderabad over Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata last evening.
Brook hit 12 fours and three sixes in 55-ball 100 that took Hyderabad to 228-4 after Kolkata skipper Nitish 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.
Mystery 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 new Kolkata hero Rinku Singh.
Singh, 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, while spinner Mayank Markande finished with 2-27.
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.
