Harry Brook smashed the first century of the 2023 IPL season to also help Sunrisers Hyderabad post the highest total so far - 228/4 as they beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 23 runs in Friday's match at the Eden Gardens.
Kolkata's chase crossed the 200-run mark but in the end SRH's target proved just too high as the hosts lost the match by 23 runs, despite half centuries from captain Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh.
With their second win of the season, Hyderabad now move to the seventh spot in the IPL standings, with four points, and Kolkata remain in the fourth position due to their higher net run rate (0.711).
Nitish Rana Put Hyderabad In to Bat
After being put into bat first, Harry Brook gave a flying start to SRH, hitting Umesh Yadav for three boundaries. The England batter continued with his fearless hitting as he smashed Umesh again in the third over for two back-to-back maximums, scoring 15 runs off it.
KKR then introduced spin in the form of Sunil Narine in order to put the brakes on the visitor's run rate, which turned to be a good call 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, who tried to dab it past the third man where Varun Chakaravarthy moved to his left and completed a fine catch.
In the same over, Russel picked his second in the form of Rahul Tripathi after conceding a boundary in the previous delivery. Tripathi went for the pull but top-edged the ball and keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz ran forward to his left and finished a catch. And skipper Aiden Markram came to join Brooks.
Meanwhile, Brooks was on his merry way as SRH posted 65 runs in the power-play for the loss of two wickets. 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.
In the next over, Brooks completed his fifty off 32 balls. 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, followed by a brilliant six over deep square leg to Chakaravarthy.
After conceding a boundary and a six, Chakaravarthy was quick to bounce back as he dismissed the SRH skipper on the next ball to end a 72-run partnership for the third wicket. Markram went on a knee to clear the deep midwicket boundary but the ball landed safely into Russell's hand.
Thereafter, Suyash made a chance to trap Abhishek, who sliced towards deep cover where Shardul attacked the catch but couldn't control the momentum of the run and the ball burst through his hands.
Brooks started the 15th over with a four towards long-off and survived an lbw call from Gurbaz with an immediate review. He then hit four successive boundaries including a free-hit. He finished the over with a four towards offside, collecting 23 off the over.
While Brooks was looking ominous, Abhishek 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.
Soon after dismissing Abhishek, Russell walked off the field with physios help after experiencing cramps and Shardul came into the attack to finish his over. On the third ball of the final, Brooks brought up his maiden IPL century in his debut season. With 71-run coming off the last four overs, SRH posted 228/4 on the board, the season's highest total.
Kolkata's Chase
After losing three early wickets, Rana held the fort for KKR with his vital innings, which had six maximums and five boundaries while runs also flowed from Rinku's bat but it wasn't enough to take KKR over the line.
Chasing a mammoth 228-run target, KKR had a slow start as Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck in the very first over, sending Rahmanullah Gurbaz back for a third ball duck and giving away just one run off the over. After 3 runs coming off the next over, Venkatesh Iyer and N Jagadeesan went for a few hits against Bhuvneshwar in his second over.
Soon, Marco Jansen picked two in two balls to reduce KKR to 23/3. He first sent Iyer packing for 10 and removed Sunil Narine for a first ball duck.
After a dismal start, KKR skipper staged a stunning counter attack, 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 and 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), who went for the slog sweep but ended up hitting straight to the fielder.
With 12 runs coming off the 10th over, KKR were reeling 96-4 halfway through. In the next over, Markande struck again to dismiss Andre Russell, piling further miseries on KKR innings.
However, the last match's hero Rinku Singh came to join the skippe Rana, who completed his 16th IPL fifty off 25 balls. With the asking run-rate kept increasing, Rana and Rinku tried to release pressure with their hits.
In the 15th over, Bhuvneshwar almost got Rinku caught behind, but the KKR batter was quick to review the decision, which was reversed as UltraEdge confirmed that the ball touched the bottom of the bat and hit the ground.
Soon, Nitish was dropped by Washington Sunder and a dot ball later Rinku hit Jansen for a six on the no-ball and followed that up with an amazing maximum to deep extra cover on a free hit, taking 16 runs off the over.
With 70 needed in 24 balls, Rana hit Natarajan for six on full toss before falling in the next delivery while smashing for another maximum but didn't get the distance and the ball straight to Washington.
Bhuvneshwar conceded just 10 runs in the 18th over and KKR were needing 48 off 12 balls. In the penultimate over, Rinku Singh survived a run-out while coming back for a second. He then hammered four boundaries off the next five balls to bring the equation to 31 off the final over.
After being expensive in his first over, Umran successfully defended 31 runs for his side. He started off the final over with Shardul Thakur's wicket on the first ball. A single and a couple of dot balls later, Rinku hit a massive six but it was not enough to save the game for his side as 24 was needed off the final delivery.
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