Spinners played a massive role in helping Kolkata Knight Riders script a superb comeback in the UAE phase of IPL 2021 and reach the final.

In the summit clash too, they could have finished with better figures if not for Dinesh Karthik’s missed stumping opportunity that gave life to Faf du Plessis early in the game, which the former South Africa captain utilised to the maximum by laying the platform for Chennai Super Kings’ fourth IPL crown.

One of the architects of the Knight Riders’ turnaround after a disappointing first leg, Sunil Narine was again the standout bowler for them in the final with figures of 2/26.

Forced to remodel his action, the off-spinner’s bowling suffered to an extent in the last couple of years. But he has gradually worked his way back. In this year’s Caribbean Premier League, he finished with 12 wickets from 10 matches at an economy rate of 4.37 for Trinbago Knight Riders.

In what could be called a new strategy, Narine has been keeping the ball hidden from batsmen till the point of release.

“Sunil’s action is absolutely fine now. As for bowling with his arm behind, that’s purely a tactical move and has got nothing with remodelling his action,” Carl Crowe, who had been the Knight Riders’ spin bowling coach during the India leg of this IPL and who helped Narine sort his action, told The Telegraph.

“That ploy from Sunil did not allow the batsmen to pick him. It keeps them guessing. Even batters who played him well in the past struggled to pick him. In other words, it’s down to your skill level and how reactive you can be based on the match situation.”

Sunil Narine

Wickets or economy?

Narine wasn’t KKR’s highest wicket-taker this season. With 16 wickets, he was second to Varun Chakravarthy, who finished with 18. But an economy rate of 6.44 in the most competitive T20 league in the world shows the kind of impact he has had on his team’s progress.

“Five to 10 years ago, Sunil used to take lots of big wickets. That may not be too frequent now, but what’s consistent is his economy rate, which has been outstanding.

“Wicket-taking is sometimes over-rated in T20 cricket as it ultimately boils down to your economy rate, which wins your team matches,” Crowe, who also was an off-spinner during his playing days in English first-class cricket, emphasised.

Crowe seemed quite impressed with Chakravarthy’s abilities as well. “Both Sunil and Varun did exceedingly well at Sharjah where the wickets were conducive.

“To sum up Varun’s performance, I would say he can spin it well even when he’s bowling with the new ball and can vary his pace well too,” Crowe said.