Halfway through the league stage, the Kolkata Knight Riders find themselves in an incredibly favourable position after winning 5 out of their 7 games and boasting of the highest NRR in the tournament with +1.206 (Stats taken before KKR vs PBKS). In recent years, Kolkata have rarely found themselves in such a commanding position, failing to qualify for most of the preceding years, and an incredibly major reason for this is Sunil Narine.
The wily bowler
The hat that Sunil Narine usually dons is one of an economical bowling mastermind, choking the opposition for runs with his tight lengths which give away almost nothing. In fact, before the game against Rajasthan Royals, Narine hadn’t conceded A SINGLE BOUNDARY AT HOME. Think about what a mind-blowing feat that is; in a year where bowlers have been bearing the brunt of aggression like never before, Narine has been the go-to bowler for KKR when they need to strangle the opposition. Perhaps this can be attributed to the fact that batters pay their respects to Narine as a plan, and belligerently attack the others. Even so, it shows the reputation that this man has built for himself- a wily and effective fox that, if taken lightly, will pounce on you.
While he barged into the cricket scene as an out-and-out wicket-taker, batsmen had begun to understand his tactics somewhat and blunted his spells out. He may still have been economical, but he wasn’t among the wickets. But this year he has rightly reverted to his foxy self, out-foxing several batsmen and getting wickets at a consistent rate. He has, and always will be, the bowler to watch out for in KKR, and this year is a strong reminder that he hasn’t lost the spark yet, it isn’t even close.
The haunting batsman
No one realised the flipside of Narine’s hat, the explosive batting power of Narine until Gautham Gambhir promoted him to the top quite a few years back. He had a good season at the top, giving the team brisk starts before departing. In the years that followed, he just wasn’t clicking and was dropped back down, and he was back to being just a bowler- until now. Gautham Gambhir returned to KKR as a mentor and brought Narine back on top, and no one on EARTH could have guessed the outcome.
We can assume the management at best hoped Narine would get back to providing cameos and brisk starts, but who knew they were going to be treated to a lot more? KKR’s opposition were horrified witnesses to some of the most belligerent, unstoppable hitting that just didn’t seem to end. With numerous 50+ scores and even getting a 100 against RR, he has blown teams out of the water (Pat Cummins influence?) at the start of the game.
What’s even more phenomenal is his casual demeanour while he bats, and I’m not just talking about his lack of movement while batting. The batting coach said that he doesn’t even attend the batters meets! He just walks out with that incredibly stable and strong base of his and bats his opposition out of the game. He is now firmly in the race for the orange cap, and as far as mind-blowing occurrences are concerned, Narine’s all-round abilities are pretty high on the list.
To say Sunil Narine has been pivotal to this KKR franchise would be a gross understatement, especially in terms of this season. While there have been several players that have stepped up for Kolkata without whom they wouldn’t be in such a good position, if it was to be chosen who has been the most impactful for KKR, it is glaringly obvious that Narine is miles above the rest. It is undeniably shameful that he has retired for West Indies and won’t feature in the upcoming T20 World Cup. This could, and is already looking to, be his best season, and it’s just halfway done.
