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Sunil Narine regains his bowling range, and delivers clean hits too
On a sluggish Sharjah pitch, Narine was in his elements, first courtesy two wickets in his four-over spell conceding 18 and then two sixes in a 10-ball 21 that freed up a tight 128-run chase from 96/5 in the 15th over.
For a bowler who has had to miss large chunks of game time over the last decade tweaking and remodeling his oft-flagged action, Sunil Narine has played a lot of cricket in the last couple of months.
Eight matches in The Hundred that began in July followed by 10 outings in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) meant the Trinidadian came into the IPL second leg with a truckload of overs and wickets—19 across the two leagues—behind him. It has led to the spinner being at the forefront of the Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) resurgence run in the UAE with three wins from four matches, the latest by three wickets against Delhi Capitals on Tuesday.
On a sluggish Sharjah pitch, Narine was in his elements, first courtesy two wickets in his four-over spell conceding 18 and then two sixes in a 10-ball 21 that freed up a tight 128-run chase from 96/5 in the 15th over.
One particular delivery provided a flashback moment to the magician of the yore. Loading up in his run-up while hiding the ball behind his right thigh, Narine changed his grip in a split second. The ball drifted away, and after pitching on a good length, spun back in through the gap between bat and pad of Shreyas Iyer, who looked to run it through the off. Iyer wore a perplexed look, Narine a smile.
The 33-year-old has carried that smile through the resumption of this season. He has taken six wickets in the four matches so far in the UAE, creating the kind of impact he is known for. Against Mumbai Indians last week, his wicket of Rohit Sharma not only stalled the opposition surge but sparked a collapse from 78/0 in the 10th over. In KKR’s next game against Chennai Super Kings, Narine was tasked with defending four runs off the final over after he had castled Ambati Rayudu earlier in the chase. He took it down to the final ball, dismissing Sam Curran off the first and the in-form Ravindra Jadeja off the penultimate before Deepak Chahar got the all-important single. From a seemingly hopeless situation, Narine gave KKR hope.
“I'm coming off a good amount of cricket,” Narine said after the MI game. “The Hundred, CPL and out here; it's been a while since I've played so much cricket and I'm happy to be playing as much as possible. I've put a lot of work into my action and it's getting better and better.”
In the last IPL season in the UAE, Narine was reported again for suspect action—an issue that has popped up frequently after it forced him to pull out of the 2015 ODI World Cup—and put on the warning list. Before he was reviewed and cleared, KKR benched him for a couple of matches fearing further action leading to suspension.
It capped off a poor season for Narine (and for KKR) in which he only managed five wickets in 10 matches at an economy rate of 7.94, his least productive and most expensive season since he burst into the league with his tricks in 2012. Down on form and self-belief, Narine needed an outlet to regain it.
The Hundred and CPL gave him that. He took seven wickets in eight matches playing for Oval Invincibles in the English league, taking the rhythm into his home CPL, where he truly came into his own. In the 10 matches for Trinbago Knight Riders, he took 12 wickets at an economy of 4.37. Narine was back to creating breakthroughs as well as stifling the batters for runs. It has all been on show in IPL.
“I've been through a lot. I've to give thanks to Kyle (Mills, KKR bowling coach); he has been doing a fantastic job with me...I think that's a plus, and that's probably been the key to my comeback. It has taken a while, but I'm feeling much more confident, and hopefully it can continue in the games to come,” Narine said after Tuesday’s win.
