The IPL 2024 ended on May 26. Since then, Sunil Narine has spent his time plying his trade in different T20 leagues, probably collecting his thoughts on a Rs 12-crore retention fee and how to catch the opponents in a spin web, yet again, in this year’s Indian Premier League. The small matter of a T20 World Cup that was played in the United States and the Caribbean last year didn’t woo him enough to come out with his international retirement.
Narine is 36. But Kolkata Knight Riders were always going to retain him irrespective of his age. His presence gives the team a supercilious (not in a negative sense) aura, be it in the Powerplay (if needed), middle-overs and/or at the death. When Narine is not taking wickets, he is effecting a spin-choke, making even the biggest hitters in the game gasping for runs unless he is having a bad day. The hard numbers say the Trinidadian has gone wicketless in six of his last 10 T20 matches. From KKR management’s perspective, this shouldn’t be worth even a cursory look. Narine is a different beast in the IPL.
KKR played ‘total cricket’ last season to win the title. Bowling-wise, it was the year of Varun Chakravarthy’s resurgence, Harshit Rana’s emergence, Andre Russell’s wicket-taking impact and Mitchell Starc’s firepower, especially at the back end of the tournament. And yet, Narine made the biggest impact, claiming 17 wickets in 14 innings at an economy rate of 6.69, and scoring 488 runs at a strike-rate of 180.74. More on his batting later.
Usually a bowler loses his mojo after remodelling his action. Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal is a strong case in point. Once he was forced to alter his bowling action after it was reported in 2014, Ajmal lost his cutting edge. An early retirement ensued. Relearning the art of spin bowling is almost an improbable job, for it’s very difficult to erase things from the system that are internalised.
Narine remains an aberration. He has remodelled his action several times since 2014-15, when he was first reported in the IPL and international cricket. From then to the IPL 2020, he was reported six times and with every comeback he lost a bit of mystery before being demystified completely. Now the batsmen don’t struggle to read him, but they still can’t get the better of him. Trying to force the pace, they lose their wickets, as Narine revels in his impeccable control.
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The spinner in his latest avatar doesn’t run through a side. Rather it is death by strangulation and KKR will hope that the process remains unhindered in this year’s IPL as well.
Over to Narine the batsman, and perfecting the art of Hail Mary hitting, without ever thinking about getting out. He doesn’t put a price tag on his wicket, which makes the whole thing uncomplicated. Narine needed someone to understand his game, his philosophy towards cricket to be precise. In Gautam Gambhir he got a perfect mentor, who gave him the licence to fail. “GG coming back, he gave me the confidence and assurance that I can open the batting and do a good job,” Narine had said during last year’s IPL.
Gambhir has left for greener pastures since, to coach India. But as a new season is about to commence, KKR’s template remains unchanged. Narine will open for the innings, with Quinton de Kock very likely partnering him.
Assessing Narine’s current form, both with bat and ball, would be an exercise in futility though, for there is nothing on display as yet. He didn’t play KKR’s first intra-squad game, while rain played spoilsport in the second. But the team’s self-effacing hero is spending extra hours at the nets, turning up for practice sometimes even an hour before the scheduled training sessions. It is that time of the year when he develops the habit of making the ball talk.
Also Read: Mumbai Indians: Can the Five-Time Champions End Their Title Drought?
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