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It was Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach and West Indian great Brian Lara who planned to promote destructive English batter Harry Brook as an opener against Kolkata Knight Riders and his team benefitted from it on Friday.
Harry Brook’s hundred, the first of the season, propelled SRH to record this edition’s highest aggregate 228 for four and beat KKR by 23 runs in its Indian Premier League engagement at the Eden Gardens.
SRH all-rounder Abhishek Sharma, who played against Brook during his under-19 days and added 72 runs with the Englishman at the Eden, said his team always supported Brook.
“Harry could not perform in two-three matches, so it was in Brian (Lara)’s mind that we will bring him up and I will go in the middle so that I can take on the spinners,” said Abhishek, who made a comeback after recovering from an injury.
“We all knew that Brook was going to do something like this soon. It was just a matter of time. His Test batting is like T20. He just reacts to the ball and plays his natural game. He can take on any pace attack. That was a very good decision by the coach and the management.”
While admitting that KKR bowlers could have performed better, captain Nitish Rana paid tribute to Brook for his unbeaten 55-ball 100. “We had our plans in place against Brook. We could carry out 60-70 per cent of those. You’ve to give credit to the batter.”
Rana said losing three wickets in the Powerplay affected his team’s run chase but he and Rinku Singh did not give up.
Rana backed Andre Russell, who had fitness issues, developed cramps during the match due to dehydration in hot and humid conditions.
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