SRH beats KKR by 23 runs

Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 23 runs in the IPL here on Friday. Harry Brook smashed an unbeaten 100 off 55 balls as SRH made 228 for 4 in 20 overs. SRH captain Aiden Markram struck 50 off 26 balls. Andre Russell was the pick of the KKR bowlers with two wickets. KKR made a match of it before falling short at 205 for 7 in 20 overs. Skipper Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh made 75 and 58 not out respectively. Brook, Player of the Match: Was a special night. Thankfully we got over the line as well. Got a little tense in the middle. 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. My four Test hundreds will have to be over this one. The crowd was phenomenal tonight. I enjoyed it. 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. Markram, SRH captain: Feels good winning away from home. Was always going to be a tight game. With their firepower we knew the total wasn’t safe. Our bowlers showed character. I was fortunate that we got off to a great start. Makes life easier. We bat quite deep so you get the freedom. We all know Harry – his ability we have seen. Giving a player like that the time to face a lot of balls. He’s Mr. Reliable for sure (Bhuvi). Certainly helps the dressing room. It’s a great bunch of guys. It’s cricket at the end of the day, always going to teach you a lesson. Nitish Rana, KKR captain: Thanks for the compliments on the run chase. I feel the way we bowled was not according to the plans. No matter what the wicket was like, this wasn’t a 230 wicket. One odd day you’ll get an innings like Rinku had the other day, but not everyday. We batted really well, we wanted to take the game deep and then you never know. Home advantage is one thing