'A Bat or a Magic Wand in his Hand?': Ex-KKR Player Lauds Brook, Calls him 'Harry Potter' of SRH

Players bagging multi-million deals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) often have to bear the performance pressure. After all, they would need to justify the price tag they are coming with. Consistency keeps them in the good books of experts and fans whereas lack of runs directly leads to criticism and online trolling. The same was the case with English batter Harry Brook who was signed by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping INR 13.5 crore in the mini-auction. His debut season began with back-to-back failures but on Friday, he finally bounced back among runs with a scintillating hundred, becoming the first player to notch triple figures in IPL 2023.

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Brook smashed an unbeaten 100 off 55 balls, helping SRH set Kolkata Knight Riders a mammoth 229-run target. In return, the bowlers of the ‘Orange Army’ restricted Nitish Rana and Co. to 205/7 and won the contest by 23 runs.

Brook’s maiden IPL ton left a majority of former cricketers impressed and one of them in Aakash Chopra. The cricketer-turned-commentator said the Englishman did magic with the bat in hand, just like Harry Potter does with his wand.

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“Harry Brook played like Harry Potter. He was absolutely sensational. Did he have a bat or a magic wand in his hand? He did an amazing job. This season’s first century has come from Harry Brook’s bat," Chopra said in his latest YouTube video.

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The former KKR opener further highlighted the importance of SRH captain Aiden Markram’s blazing fifty.

“Aiden Markram’s half-century was as important as Harry Brook’s century. There is no doubt that Brook’s century was very good, he is an amazing player, but the contribution Aiden Markram had in that – scored 50 runs, hit five sixes and all against spin," Chopra said.

“He took on Suyash Sharma or Varun Chakaravarthy. He didn’t allow Brook to come in front of them. If Brook had come, stayed there for long and tried to hit, the spinners would have got him out. Suyash dropped a caught and bowled," he added.

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