“People Are Calling You Rubbish”: Harry Brook Glad to Quieten Down Indian Fans By Scoring Maiden IPL 100 at Eden Gardens

To be absolutely honest, one was expecting England batter Harry Brook to play such an innings for Sunrisers Hyderabad in his maiden Indian Premier League season.

Brook, 24, scoring his first IPL century in only his fourth match is nothing short of a luxury for admirers of individual milestones but him thumping bowlers in IPL 2023 was always going to be on the cards. The form that he was in before the season, there was no way for Brook to not create such an impact despite three horror outings to begin his IPL career with.

Harry Brook Glad to Quieten Down Indian Fans By Scoring Maiden IPL 100

A total of 29 (39) across his first three IPL innings wasn’t befitting of Brook’s reputation and current form. Been at the receiving end of hate comments on social media, the right-handed batter provided a fitting response to haters both with the bat and his words.

One of the most expensive players of IPL 2023 auction, Brook’s INR 13.25 crore price tag brought with it truckloads of expectations. Taking into consideration how Indian fans can be unforgiving in their approach, Brook faced his share of severe criticism until tonight. Brook, who admitted to be putting pressure on himself because of his IPL salary and severe criticism, expressed relief at quietening down “Indian fans”.

“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,” Brook told host broadcaster Star Sports Network after being adjudged the Player of the Match against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens.

Harry Brook Test Career

Brook, who can become the fastest batter to complete 1,000 Test runs, has scored 809 runs in six matches at an crazy average of 80.90 and a strike rate of 98.77 including four centuries and three half-centuries.

Brook, who has batted 29 times for England across formats till now, has batted at No. 5 as many as 20 times. While eight out of his 10 Test innings have come at No. 5, 12 out of his 17 T20Is innings have also come at this position.

Brook, who made his IPL debut at the same number, was promoted as an opener in his third outing. With him acknowledging the privilege which comes with batting at the top in this format, it will be interesting to see if the English team management promotes him in the batting order or not.

“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,” Brook said when asked about his preferred batting position.

Speaking particular of T20s, Brook’s latest outing was only the fifth instance of him opening the batting. While he has batted at No. 3 a handful of times, it is a well-known fact that most of his T20 innings have come in the middle-order for various teams.