KOLKATA: When it came to Harry Brook, it was never a question of “if”; rather, only “when”. Having built a sensational body of work in his early international career, before making his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut, there was a sense of inevitability. It didn’t happen in the first three games, in part because Sunrisers Hyderabad struggled in two of those and Brook had to mould his game accordingly. But on Friday against Kolkata Knight Riders, Brook showed why he’s being billed as a superstar for the future. Having been promoted to the top order, he scored the season’s first century — and his second T20 ton — off only 55 balls. There had been plenty of things going against him. Kolkata welcomed him with the day’s temperatures touching 41, humidity levels at almost 100%, and an Eden Gardens crowd aching to see him fail a fourth time. With scores of 13, 3 and 13 in his first three IPL innings, the price-tag pressure of INR 13.25 crore (approximately USA $1.61m) mounted. Checking his social-media mentions after those three failures didn’t help him either. “I was putting pressure on myself a little bit for the first few games,” Brook said after his unbeaten 100 took Sunrisers to victory. “I went on to social media, people were calling me rubbish, and you start to doubt yourself a little bit.” The pressure was not apparent on the field, though. Brook began his innings by smacking four fours and two sixes in the first three overs of the game, bowled by Umesh Yadav and Lockie Ferguson. At one stage, he had raced away to 31 off 11. But for Brook, this was a relatively new job. In 93 T20 innings before the IPL, he had opened only three times. His imperious T20 numbers — an average of 34.14 and a strike rate of 147.77 — have been built from Nos. 4 to 6 with England, Yorkshire, Northern Superchargers, Lahore Qalandars and Hobart Hurricanes. However, the middle order was not the right fit for an IPL rookie like Brook. He was struggling against spin — a strike rate of 80, and an average of 6 told the story — in the middle overs, and teams were beginning to target him with that match-up. So when regular opener Abhishek Sharma was briefly out with injury and Anmolpreet Singh didn’t impress, Brook was asked to open. On Friday, the start was promising. Brook’s burst had given Sunrisers such a headstart that Knight Riders were forced to introduce spin early. But when most of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy’s overs were done, Brook re-emerged. Knight Riders brought pace back in the form of Ferguson, and Brook charged at him to hit for four fours and a six in the 15th over. Suyash Sharma and Shardul Thakur weren’t spared either as Brook reached his century with a single to long-on. Brook looked exhausted but flashed a smile. There was also a sense of satisfaction in his smile. He had perfectly executed the plan, playing to his strengths and letting others show off theirs. He took 34 runs off 29 against the spinners, while smashing the pacers for 66 off 26. There was just one thing missing in Brook’s perfect day, and that was his parents not being there to witness it. They had travelled with Sunrisers for three games, but left for the UK before the Kolkata fixture. Brook said that he had a funny feeling that fate would have a cruel way to now give him the gift of runs. And we have a feeling that his parents will get plenty of opportunities in the years to come.