England white-ball captain Harry Brook has opened up on the criticism he faced during his underwhelming and only Indian Premier League season with the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
He was being criticised for his innings prior to his century against Kolkata Knight Riders and said he felt glad to “shut up” the supporters who were “slagging me off”.
However, his form dipped thereafter, and he found himself in a pressure cooker. Brook has now reflected on the only season he was part of in the lucrative league, highlighting that he got into a troublesome situation. “It didn’t help me as a person on the field or off the field. I decided to, not stay away from social media, but also not go out of my way to look at it.
Brook mustered only 190 runs in the 2023 season despite having scored a masterful hundred.
“I got into a little bit of a rabbit hole with scrutiny and social media when I was at the IPL,” Brook told BBC Sport.
“On the other hand, I actually feel it’s a little bit of a compliment if people are giving me scrutiny and have an opinion about my game. The 27-year-old has been banned from the IPL till 2027 and can only return for the 2028 mega auction after he repeatedly pulled out of the Indian cash-rich league.
I know it’s not a nice thing to see people slagging you off, but it means people care and people think I can put in a better performance than I have done that day,” he said. Speaking on his exile from the league, Brook said he does “not really” have regrets about it.
