When Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) kicked off their campaign at home, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, against Sunrisers Hyderabad, KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir was schooled by angry fans on social media for promoting Sunil Narine back as an opener. The West Indies star returned with just 2 off 4 in that game. But Gambhir persisted with his plan on Friday again as Narine paid off the trust with a match-winning knock against RCB.
In 2017, following Narine's success as a pinch-hitter at the top of the order at the Big Bash League and the Caribbean Premier League, Gambhir, then the skipper of KKR, emulated the same in IPL as he promoted the Windies cricketer as an opener. While the strategy gave KKR instant success in the initial years, it faded with time as chinks on Narine's armoury were exposed and Kolkata demoted him down to the tail end in the line-up.
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With Gambhir back in Kolkata as an opener, Narine was promoted to the top spot in the batting line-up yet again. He scored just 2 off 4 against SRH in the first match, but smashed a fiery 22-ball 47, laced with five sixes and two boundaries, against RCB on Friday. Narine was adjudged as the Player of the Match as well for his knock that helped KKR chase down 187 with 19 balls to spare.
{{/usCountry}}With Gambhir back in Kolkata as an opener, Narine was promoted to the top spot in the batting line-up yet again. He scored just 2 off 4 against SRH in the first match, but smashed a fiery 22-ball 47, laced with five sixes and two boundaries, against RCB on Friday. Narine was adjudged as the Player of the Match as well for his knock that helped KKR chase down 187 with 19 balls to spare.
{{/usCountry}}En route to his six-mania at the Chinnaswamy, which included back-to-back strikes against Yash Dayal in the final over of the powerplay, Gambhir was left ecstatic in the dugout as he almost jumped out from his seat to applaud the effort. Narine hit the first, a shorter one, over deep midwicket and the second one, a slower and fuller delivery, over the bowler's head.
After the match, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer admitted that the management were in two minds over retaining Narine as opener, but the decision to keep him eventually paid off.
"See when Narine comes in to open, he knows he has one job which is to clear the infield. Today we were contemplating whether to start with him or not but he did a brilliant job. From one end, it was good to bat on. From the other end it was two paced. That was the communication we had in the middle and we passed it onto others," he said.