Harry Brook, the matchwinner, revels at shutting up his trolls

The price tag of $1.62 million was hanging heavy around the neck of Harry Brook as the English batter failed in his first three innings for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2023. All that changed—and how!—as he blazed his way to the IPL’s first century of the season and brought that fizz which was missing from the Orange Army’s performance so far.

It was a masterstroke on the part of Brian Lara & Co to make the best use of him in Powerplay, after he fell cheaply to wrist spinners, coming in at number four in the first two games. Brook did get a start in his third game as the opener fell for 13, reserving his best for one of the most hallowed turfs in the sport on a hot Friday night.

Coming into the IPL with the reputation of the highest scorer after the first nine innings of his Test debut, Brook realised that there was a lot riding on him. When he took charge from senior partner Mayank Agarwal and the duo raced to 43 without a loss in the first three overs, Brook made his ‘don’t care’ intent clear.

‘’I think I was putting pressure on myself after the first few games. If you go on social media, people are calling you rubbish and you start to slightly doubt yourself a little bit,’’ Brook said later.

‘’But I just went out there with an I-don’t-care mentality tonight and thankfully came up. There are a lot of Indian fans out there [on social media] who are going to say 'well done' tonight, but they were slagging me off a few days ago. Glad I could shut them up.’’

If one sees a semblance of arrogance there, it’s understandable, as that had been the hallmark of ‘Bazball’ cricket overall. It’s still too early to say if Brook might eventually be put in the same bracket as Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow, but suffice it to say he has had a great start to his career and has the heart to walk that path.  

With the benefit of hindsight, it’s safe to assume that the Sunrisers management decided to break the bank for Brook in the last mini auction in December because they were looking for an explosive player who could fill the void left behind by David Warner and Bairstow. The pair had often been a nightmare for rival bowlers till a few seasons back, making up for a somewhat thin middle order.

If the English media had been euphoric about Brook since his debut against South Africa, it was for good reason. In his first nine Test innings, Brook had accumulated a record 809 runs—that is 10 runs more than Vinod Kambli when the Indian had his golden run in 1994.

A look at the sequence of Brook's scores against Pakistan and then New Zealand is tell-tale: 153, 87, 9, 111, 89, 54 and 186, at an extraordinary strike rate of 98.77. He was handpicked by Brendon McCullum, the England Test coach, for his fearless approach and clean hitting last year—so no wonder he now has a century each in both the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and the IPL.

The Yorkshire man is now tipped to be the ace in England’s pack in their Ashes series at home in June–July. For now, he certainly looks capable of bringing the X-factor to the Sunrisers' batting!