Kolkata’s Rana, Rinku fifties in vain as ton-up Brook seals Hyderabad win

Harry Brooks' impressive unbeaten century and Aiden Markram's half-century outshone the fighting fifties of Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) registered a 23-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday.

With Brooks' brilliant 100 off 55 balls, including 12 boundaries and three maximums, skipper Markram 50 off 26 along with Abhishek Sharma (32 off 17) and Heinrich Klaasen's (16 off 6) quickfire), SRH set a massive 228-run target for KKR.

Harry Brook celebrates his century during match in Kolkata on Friday. AP

In response, KKR had a slow start as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Marco Jansen rattled their batting with the new ball as KKR slipped to 20/3 inside the powerplay.

Then, skipper Nitish Rana staged a stunning counterattack, hitting Umran Malik for four boundaries and two maximums and collecting 28 runs off the sixth over, to take the powerplay score to 62/3.

Rana along with N Jagadeesan continued with the onslaught as the duo established a 62-run partnership off just 29 deliveries for the fourth wicket. But Mayank Markande broke the deadly partnership in the 9th over as he got Jagadeesan (36 off 21).

Halfway through, KKR were reeling 96-4 and in the next over, Markande struck again to dismiss Andre Russell, piling further miseries on KKR innings.

The last match's hero Rinku Singh then joined the KKR skipper. With the asking run-rate kept increasing, Rana and Rinku tried to release pressure with their hits. The duo went on to establish a 69-run partnership which T Natarajan broke in the 17 over.

Bhuvneshwar conceded just 10 runs in the 18th over and KKR were needing 48 off 12 balls. Rinku threatened to take the match away as hammered four boundaries off the penultimate over and brought the equation to 31 off the final over.

After conceding 28 runs in his first over, SRH skipper showed faith in Umran Malik to defend 31 runs in the final over and the pacer held his nerves and finished it off after conceding just eight runs.

Earlier, put into bat first, SRH had a strong start as Harry Brook was up and running straight away as he hit three fours in the first over, off Umesh Yadav. The English batter continued with his fearless hitting as he smashed Umesh again in the third over for two back-to-back maximums.

KKR introduced spin in the form of Sunil Narine in order to put brakes on the visitor's run rate, which turned to be fruitful as Narine gave away just three runs off the fourth over.

In the fifth over, Andre Russell came into the attack and picked up a wicket on his first ball, dismissing Mayank Agarwal. On the last ball of the over, picked his second in the form of Rahul Tripathi after conceding a boundary in the previous delivery. And skipper Aiden Markram came to join Brooks.

SRH reached 65/2 at the end of the Powerplay. After the Powerplay, SRH maintained their run-rate as the visitors scored 29 runs off the next overs and were 94-2 after 10 overs.

Brook got to his maiden IPL fifty, off 32 balls as SRH brought up their 100 in the 11th over. Markram then hit the paddle in the 12th over, hitting Suyash Sharma for two sixes and a boundary to accelerate the run rate. He completed his fourth half-century in the next over with a boundary, before holing out to Varun Chakaravarthy.

While Brooks was sensational, Abhishek Sharma too was equally impressive with his calculated hits. The duo stitched 72 run partnership for the fourth wicket, which Russell broke in the penultimate over, removing Abhishek for 32. With 13 runs coming off the final over, SRH posted 228 for 4.

Indo-Asian News Service