KKR skipper Rahane hails Narine

With their fourth win in the tournament in the form of a 14-run win over Delhi Capitals on Tuesday, Kolkata Knight Riders stay in the hunt for a play-off berth in this year’s IPL. The defending champions have two wins at home and two in away games, with Tuesday’s win coming at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. With Sunil Narine picking up his second three-wicket haul in this year’s IPL, taking three wickets for 29 runs against Capitals apart from playing a knock of 27 runs during Kolkata’s innings, Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Ajinkya Rahane shared how Narine has been coming early or practice and spending time on his batting as well.
“When Sunil came into bowl and picked up two wickets, and when they lost three wickets in the middle, I thought that was the game for us. We felt we were short. Sunil bowled well and got good support from Russell, and Anukul bowled well. He has been doing well for us so I thought let’s back him. Sunil Narine has been a champion bowler for this franchise. A match-winner. As a captain, it’s good to have him and Varun Chakravarthy in the team. Sunil has been coming early for the practice sessions, working hard, batting as well,” said Rahane post the win.
Narine, who had joined the Kolkata side in 2012, has been one of the team’s mainstays. The West Indies all-rounder was one of the six players retained the Kolkata side in last year’s IPL Mega Auction.
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During KKRs’ winning campaign last year, Narine had scored 488 runs and taken 17 wickets in 15 matches. While Narine had picked up only two wickets in Kolkata’s first five matches this season, missing the team’s second match due to illness, the 36-year-old has picked up eight wickets in the next five matches for the team with one match being called off due to rain.
On Tuesday, Narine picked up the wickets of Faf du Plessis, Axar Patel and Tran Stubbs as Delhi Capitals fell 15 runs short of the 205 run target. The West Indies all-rounder talked about bowling on all kinds of wickets in the IPL post the match. “I still back myself to come back and deliver for the team. There are games you start early and struggle later and there are games you start late. I enjoyed all the wickets, all are crucial. The more wickets you get, the better it is for the team. Always want to give the captain to give the option of having someone. If you want to be that kind of player, you have to keep up the hard work, even if there is no training,” said Narine post the match.