Over the past year, Harry Brook has established himself as one of the world’s best young male cricketers. In just 10 innings, he has scored 809 runs in six Test matches at an average of 80.90, including four centuries and three half-centuries. Brook was also a member of the England team that won the T20 World Cup in Australia last year, though he didn’t really help the team win.
At the IPL auction in December 2022, the 24-year-old player was in high demand, and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) paid 13.25 crore rupees for him, making him their most expensive IPL acquisition ever. His exhibitions in the Pakistan Super Association and other T20 associations most certainly had an impact in something similar.
However, his IPL debut has been disastrous. After being stumped by wrist-spinner Ravi Bishnoi’s delivery in the subsequent innings, he only scored three runs off four balls against LSG. Here are three possible reasons why Brook might have trouble competing in the IPL this season:
1 he is playing for the first time in India
Harry Brook has been touted as the next big thing in cricket by many experts. Cricket is, however, difficult to play in India. For a young player making his debut here, the country’s intensity and fervor may be intimidating.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is by far the highest domestic T20 cricket competition. The weight of the player’s expectations automatically rises in response to the price tag’s pressure. As a result, the player may be unable to play their natural game after a few failures. We saw it with star batter Smriti Mandhana, who skippered Royal Challengers Bangalore during the inaugural Women’s Premier League but had a poor season overall.
Even though it is unfair to judge a player’s ability based on just one season, particularly when the player is as talented as Harry Brook, this is how sports work. He is also unfamiliar with Indian conditions because he played most of his cricket in England, where spin is not very important for a young batter’s development.
2 tries to stop wrist-spin
In the longest format, Harry Brook has dominated all types of bowling up to this point, but not in Twenty20 cricket. With 1403 runs scored at an average of 37.07 and an outrageous strike rate of 160.84, he dominates pace bowling. However, against spin bowling, the average and strike rate decrease to 26.84 and 127.48, respectively.
Brook has scored 311 runs at an average of 18.29 and a strike rate of 117.80, which shows that he has a particularly hard time dealing with wrist spin. This suggests that he cannot quickly score against spinners or keep his wicket.
3 The top tier of SRH appears vulnerable.
SRH appeared to have one of the strongest batting lineups on paper after the auction was over. They have a group of brave players who are willing to take on any bowler. Be that as it may, the initial two games have plainly not turned out well for them.
The Punjab Kings’ Mayank Agarwal had a terrible season last year. He doesn’t appear to be at his best, however settling on a decision may be too soon. In his first season as captain of SRH, Aiden Markram’s performance is yet to be determined. Against LSG, Rahul Tripathi also appeared off-color.
They appear to be done effectively by quality bowling – both crease and twist. In the event that none of the top-request hitters get rolling, it implies Creek probably won’t have the option to play his going after brand of cricket as regularly as possible.