Harry Brook should not continue to open for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2023, according to the team’s former head coach Tom Moody.
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Brook, one of the most sought-after young batters currently in world cricket, has blown hot and cold so far in IPL 2023, his debut season in the competition. Bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 13.25 crore, the team’s most expensive buy in the auction, Brook became this season’s first centurion with a blistering 55-ball hundred against Kolkata Knight Riders earlier this month. The ton came one game after he was promoted to the opening slot, having mustered scores of 13 and 3 in the middle order, and 13 in his first gig at the top.
However, the century has been sandwiched between a string of low scores: after the ton at the Eden Gardens, he has only managed 9, 18 and 7, struggling to help put up any notable opening partnership with Mayank Agarwal.
According to Tom Moody, Brook should be reinstated in the middle order to get the best output from the 24-year-old.
“No, Brook should not continue to open,” Moody said, while speaking to ESPNcricinfo. “He has had six innings where he has averaged only 10 at a strike rate of run-a-ball. He has had one unbelievable innings, but he’s a middle-order player and always has been.”
Harry Brook in IPL 2023
vs KKR – 100 off 55, 181.8 SR
vs others – 63 off 73, 10.5 avg, 86.3 SR https://t.co/RMUwgznbwc— Naman Agarwal (@CoverDrivenFor4) April 24, 2023
The reaction came after his latest dismissal, for 7 against Delhi Capitals in a low-scoring game. Tweeting after the game, broadcaster Harsha Bhogle said that Brook’s game was still a “work in progress”.
“It is a far bigger learning curve for Harry Brook than he would have imagined,” Bhogle tweeted. “On these surfaces, and under this kind of pressure, his game is still work in progress.”
Brook has played exactly 100 T20 innings so far, but has opened only eight times in the format, including the five games at the top for SRH this month.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have just two out of seven games so far, and sit second-last on the points table. Incidentally, SRH won two games in a row when Brook was pushed up the order, but have lost three on the bounce since his century in Kolkata.
