There is nothing new in having destructive batters at the top of the order in T20 cricket. But when you have someone like Sunil Narine opening the innings, an element of nonchalance gets added to that destructive power making it quite a unique experience.
For the Kolkata Knight Riders, Narine has made a big difference as an opener.
Wednesday at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam was not the only instance when the Trinidadian, primarily known for his off-spin bowling, rocked with the bat. In the previous IPL editions as well, Narine, especially during current mentor Gautam Gambhir’s captaincy stints, had opened the innings for the Knight Riders and achieved success too on some occasions.
His previous highest score in the IPL, a 36-ball 75 against the erstwhile Kings XI Punjab in Indore six years ago, was registered when he had opened the innings with Chris Lynn. Gambhir wasn’t a part of the KKR line-up then, as Dinesh Karthik was the captain. But this time, it was Gambhir's idea to try Narine out as an opener to take advantage of the fielding restrictions of the Powerplay.
In between IPL 2021 and 2023, the former West Indies off-spinner had opened only thrice. With Gambhir back in the Knights dugout ahead of this year’s IPL, Narine was sent in to open from their second match itself against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Chinnaswamy and that yielded the two-time champions instant success. His 22-ball 47 made the 183-run target look ridiculously easy.
And then the 39-ball 85, his highest-ever T20 score, was the biggest reason why the Knights’ could record a massive 106-run victory over the Delhi Capitals on Wednesday.
Precisely, Narine has proved that playing as an opener brings his best out with the bat. To talk about his batting and strokeplay, it’s just not about wild slogging. It’s proper hand-eye coordination, which does the magic for the 35-year-old.
Tackling the short-pitched stuff and back-of-a-length deliveries used to be his problem, which was one reason that made KKR stop using Narine as an opener. But in their last two games, particularly against the Capitals, the left-hander cleared his front leg and responded commendably even when Anrich Nortje and Ishant Sharma tried the back-of-a-length ball or dug it in short.
With an uncomplicated approach to batting, Narine is well aware of his hitting arc which makes matters simpler for him and helps making the kind of impact his team would want him to. "I have one role and the less I know, the better it is for me," Narine said after winning the Man-of-the-Match award on Wednesday.
With 134 runs at a strike rate of 206.15 so far after three innings, Narine is "looking to contribute more as a batter as cricket is all about batting". "That said, I still enjoy my bowling," added the veteran of 501 T20 games.
With the ball, he may not have taken heaps of wickets, but has struck once in each of the three matches while his economy rate of 7.33 isn't bad either, considering the kind of pitches on offer. To elaborate a little, except Virat Kohli during the RCB game last week, other batsmen haven't really been able to put the senior off-spinner under pressure.
In Visakhapatnam, while the pitch aided the batters, Narine bowled as many as 12 dot balls, which, in the shortest format, is no less important than taking wickets.
The last time KKR had made the IPL final was in 2021. That year, Narine wasn't too effective with the bat. But with the ball, he took 16 wickets from 14 games at an economy rate of 6.44. This time, his batting strike rate too will be equally important in KKR's quest for glory.
