He started off as a bowler who could throw his bat around, but over the years Sunil Narine has worked well on his batting. Narine scored back-to-back half-centuries for the Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL and will be hoping to continue his exploits when he plays for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. Highly impressed with his skills, former India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta credited the all-rounder for improving his batting, although he would still favour Narine the bowler more than Narine the batsman.
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“One thing I have found good in his batting is that, earlier he used to be a little troubled with back of the length bowling, but in the last match he played some amazing pull shots. So, this is a new facet that has got added in his batting,” Dasgupta said on the Cricket Connected Show on Star Sports.
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Narine’s stocks as a T20 batsman began to grow when KKR made him open the batting in 2017 and 2018 editions of the IPL. In his first season as opener, Narine scored 224 runs from 16 matches with one fifty at a strike-rate of 172.30, and bettered it the next season, piling 357 runs from 16 games at a strike rate of 189.89 including two half-centuries.
Narine’s remodelled action saw him trouble batsmen in the Caribbean Premier League, where playing for the Trinbago Knight Riders, he picked up five wickets from four matches at an economy rate of 4.87. Narine, who joined the franchise in 2012, has picked up 122 wickets from 110 IPL matches, making him eighth in the list of highest IPL wicket-takers.
“In batting, he is continuing to perform the way he was doing earlier. But I have found his bowling the most impressive. The pace at which he is bowling, the control he is showing, if I you consider everything, I have found his bowling more impressive than his batting,” Dasgupta added.
“CPL is also an important tournament and you are able to try things under pressure. The pressure might be a little more during the IPL but these are also competitive matches, so considering that it is definitely a very big advantage and I feel his bowling has become even more better.”