England World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan praised Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowling all-rounder Sunil Narine for his match-winning defeat against Delhi Capitals (DC) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match, saying some of the shots he made played would make his boyhood hero and West Indies legend Brian Lara very happy. Narine was the commander-in-chief as his pyrotechnics-filled 85 in 39 balls helped Kolkata post 272/7, the second-highest total in IPL history, which they defended despite half-centuries from DC skipper Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubbs.
DC were bowled out for 166 runs and lost the match in Visakhapatnam by 106 runs.
Morgan, the JioCinema IPL expert, pointed out that Lara was Narine’s batting idol and the T20 specialist in his younger days was a batsman who could bowl a bit of seam bowling. But eventually he turned into a spinner who could bat a bit.
“It shows how much joy he enjoys batting. As a youngster he was a batsman and bowled a small seam. Over time he developed these magical deliveries and worked hard at them. But he gets so much pleasure out of his hitting Growing up, Brian Lara was his hero. Lara would be happy with some of the shots Narine played tonight,” Morgan said of Narine.
Narine has decent numbers in the IPL. In 165 IPL matches, he scored 1,180 runs at an average of 14.94, with a strike rate of 163.89, with five half-centuries. His best score of 85.
In three matches this season, Narine has scored 134 runs at an average of 44.66 and a strike rate of 206.15, with scores of 2, 47 and 85. He has also taken three wickets so far. He is the ninth highest point scorer so far in the season.
When it comes to batting, Narine’s most productive season was in 2018, when he scored 357 runs in 16 matches at an average of 22.31, with a strike rate of over 189. He also slammed two fifties, with the best score of 75. He led KKR to the play-offs with his performances, also taking 17 wickets at an average of 27.47.
Coming to Wednesday’s match, explosive knocks from Sunil Narine (85 in 39 balls, with seven fours and seven sixes), 18-year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi (54 in 27 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and cameos from Andre Russell (41 in 19 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes) and Rinku Singh (26 in eight balls, with one four and three sixes) took the two-time champions to 272/7 in 20 overs.
Anrich Nortje (3/59) was the choice of the bowlers for DC but leaked a lot of runs. Ishant Sharma (2/43) was also solid on the ball. Khaleel Ahmed and Mitchell Marsh took a wicket each.
In the run-chase, DC dropped to 33/4. A 93-run partnership between skipper Rishabh (55 in 25 balls, with four boundaries and five sixes) and Tristan Stubbs (54 in 32 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes) helped DC put up a brief battle and provide some entertainment to their fans, but they were bowled out for 166 in 17.2 overs.
Vaibhav Arora (27/3) and Varun Chakravarthy (3/33) were the choice of bowlers for KKR. Mitchell Starc also took 2/25 in three overs. Andre Russell and Sunil Narine took a wicket each.
Narine won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his fifty. KKR are at the top, having won all three matches and gaining six points. DC is in ninth place with one win and three losses, which gives them two points.
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