Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) faced Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 19th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Eden Gardens on Friday (April 14). SRH emerged victorious in the high-scoring encounter by 23 runs.
Asked to bat first, Hyderabad got off to a flying start courtesy of brilliant strokeplay from their top-order batters. Harry Brook slammed a blazing 55-ball ton for his team in the contest and smashed KKR bowlers all around the park. Meanwhile, SRH skipper Aiden Markram too played his part by contributing 50 runs off just 26 balls and powering his side to a mammoth total of 228/4 in their allotted 20 overs.
Notably, Brook hammered 15 boundaries in his innings, including twelve fours and three sixes. Among those three maximums by him, two came on back to back deliveries of Umesh Yadav.
On the fifth ball of the third over, Umesh delivered an outside-the-off-stump low full toss to Brook, which the right-handed batter deposited into the stands over extra cover. Seeing the response, the 35-year-old pacer backed off a bit and went for a length ball on the next delivery, but Brook yet again sent it over the boundary line by making room for himself and executing a brilliant cut.
Here’s the video:
I. C. Y. M. I
When Harry Brook hits, it stays HIT! 👌👌
Relive his two cracking SIXES off Umesh Yadav 🎥 🔽
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/odv5HZvk4p#TATAIPL | #KKRvSRH pic.twitter.com/rVBtgeInVW
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 14, 2023
Coming back to the match, KKR didn’t start well in the run chase and lost their opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck. However, Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh played some attacking shots in the middle overs and kept the hopes alive for the Kolkata-based team. Rana top-scored for his side with 75 runs off 41 balls, but his efforts went in vain as KKR fell short of the target by 23 runs and managed to score 205/7 in their 20 overs.
On the other hand, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, and Mayank Markande picked up two wickets each for SRH. Brook was declared the ‘Player of the Match’ for his spectacular century.