He could not lay bat to ball last year. He registered three ducks and did not reach a double-digit score even once in 10 innings. He played as opener, at number 4 and in the lower-order – but failed miserably in all positions. It was one of the worst batting performances in the league’s history. His future in the IPL was in jeopardy.

Fast forward to this year.

Sunil Narine has turned the table (and chair and all other furniture) on its head. He has led a batting revolution for the Knight Riders at the top of the order and has been a trend-setter with his devastating shot-making in the powerplay in IPL 2024. Narine’s blitzkrieg starts are the main reason why KKR have the upper hand in the powerplay and the best Net Run Rate in the tournament – which could prove to be decisive for a top-two finish. Not only has Narine the batter taken the 17th edition of the IPL by storm, but his bowling has also been quite exceptional this season. The wily off-spinner is the best bowler in the middle-overs in the competition, picking crucial wickets while also being phenomenally restrictive.

The most successful season

Narine has already hammered 380 runs in just 10 matches at an average of 38 and strike rate of 179.3 in the tournament. It is his best season in terms of aggregate and batting average and second-best in terms of scoring rate. Narine had a strike rate of 189.9 in 2018 but scored 16 runs less per dismissal in that edition. With KKR likely to make the playoffs, Narine could well breach the 500-Club this season.

Narine also registered his first hundred in this competition – it was not only his first ton in the IPL but also his first ever in any T20 encounter. In fact, it was the first time he reached triple figures ever in any top-grade fixture including first-class and List A cricket.

Devastating starts as opener

KKR needed a revamp in their strategy and mindset at the top of the order. Their slow and steady, ‘wickets-first, runs-later’ approach had cost them dearly in the last couple of seasons. They needed something radical which would shock the opposition bowlers. KKR took a punt on their old warhorse – Sunil Narine – and pushed him back as opener – a position from where he tasted success in 2017 and 2018 but failed spectacularly thereafter.

Narine re-announced himself with a 22-ball 47 against the Challengers in KKR’s second match of the season. There was no looking back. He blasted a scintillating 85 off just 39 deliveries against the Capitals – smashing seven fours and as many sixes - to power KKR to a record 272/7 – their highest total ever in the IPL. Narine was just getting warmed up! He hammered his first T20 ton – a breathtaking 109 off 56 deliveries – against the Royals at the Eden Gardens before producing a smoking 71 off just 32 deliveries at the same venue taking KKR to their second 250-plus total of the tournament.

Narine has blasted 227 runs off just 132 deliveries in the powerplay at a strike rate of 172. He is part of the famous 5 who have tormented opposition bowlers in the first six overs in the tournament – with Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and his KKR opening partner – Phil Salt – being the other members of this club.

Partnership with Salt

Narine has formed a formidable partnership with Salt at the top of the order giving KKR rampaging starts which have eased the pressure on their middle-order – which has still been below-par this season. No pair has added more runs than Narine-Salt this season. They have an aggregate of 492 runs in 10 innings at a stunning strike rate of 206.7 with four 50 stands and one century partnership.

86 off 39 vs RCB, 60 off 27 vs DC, 56 off 26 vs RCB (second-leg), 138 off 62 vs PBKS and 79 off 37 vs DC – Narine-Salt have been phenomenal against the new ball and have given KKR the impetus and the early ascendancy in most of their encounters this season. KKR’s run-rate of 11.2 is the joint-highest (along with the Sunrisers) in the tournament. They have breached 70 on as many as five instances this year. The hurricane starts provided by Narine-Salt in the powerplay is the single-most important reason for KKR’s success this year.

The most economical spinner in the tournament

While Narine has been outstanding with the bat, his performance with the ball has largely gone unnoticed. Narine is the joint-highest wicket-taker amongst spinners in the tournament, with 13 dismissals at a strike rate of 18.5. No spinner has a better average than Narine’s 20.7 this season and a big contributing factor is his brilliant economy rate. Narine has conceded just 6.7 runs per over and is the second-most economical bowler in the tournament after Jasprit Bumrah. In a tournament, where the bat has dominated the ball like never before, this is a phenomenal effort!

Narine conceded just 19 runs in his 4 overs against the Sunrisers in a match where the other KKR bowlers were hammered at 11.5 per over. In the KKR-PBKS encounter which saw an aggregate of 523 runs, Narine delivered an exceptional spell giving away just 24 off his 4 overs. The second-most expensive bowler for KKR had an economy of 15.25! Narine was again the only KKR bowler who wasn’t taken to the cleaners in the high-scoring encounter against the Royals.

Choking the batters in the middle overs

Narine has been extremely consistent with the ball and bagged at least one wicket in every encounter. His economy rate has not exceeded 6 in as many as five outings this season while it has been between 6 and 8 in three others.

Narine has picked 11 wickets in the middle-overs, which places him on par with the three wrist spinners – Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy. However, the off-spinner has been much more restrictive, which makes him the most sought-after bowler in the 7-16 overs’ phase of play in the competition.

In a season where there is a lot of talk on the role of the all-rounder being diminished due to the ‘Impact Player’, Narine is still showcasing why a multi-skilled player is still the most valuable in the T20 format. He is, and by some distance, the highest-impact player of the tournament.

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