The Trinidadian spinner Sunil Narine is quite tormenting to the opponents. Initially with the ball, and later with the bat too. While speaking about that, Narine blindly credits his former Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir to identify his batting capabilities.
Sunil Narine started playing for KKR back in 2012. That year was a huge success for him, as he bagged 24 wickets, playing 15 games, with economy less than 6 runs an over. He was an important member guiding his team KKR to lift their maiden IPL trophy. But the then skipper hadn’t settled with Narine being a just a spinner. The year was 2017, and Gambhir send Narine to open. Narine didn’t dissapoint his skipper. He scored 224 runs with an impressive strike rate of 172.30.
The next year was a huge success for Narine as a batter. He scored 357 runs just by playing 16 matches. The strike rate almost touched 190 (189.89). Narine heavily praised Gautam Gambhir for this improvement with the bat. In an interview in Cricket Monthly, the southpaw said,
“Gautam Gambhir asked me to open. He wanted me to get the team off to a fast start; it didn’t matter if I lost my wicket early. Nobody could plan too much for me as I was still new to the role, the opposition didn’t take me that seriously, and I went from strength to strength. The more I performed well, the more confidence KKR had in me and gave me that encouragement.”
Demand of Sunil Narine increased in T-20 Cricket Leagues
Narine’s ability to score runs at the top of the order has increased his need in the T-20 market. KKR’s decision inspires Caribbean Premier League’s team Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) to sent Narine at the top of the batting order. Not only that, Melbourne Renegades of BBL also followed the same path.
Narine’s stats proved that teams indeed took the best decision. He recently has been added to the T20 blast for Surrey. His bowling hasn’t been that eye catchy. However with the bat he has managed to keep his name. The West Indian scored three 196 runs in 419020 matches with a space who start 148.23. He managed 13 half centuries and 452 scalps in his pocket.
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