IPL 2022: Top 3 Sunil Narine spells in IPL
According to the IPL schedule, the Kolkata Knight Riders take on the Mumbai Indians at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on the 14th match. Having lost two consecutive matches, Mumbai will be aiming to open their account in tonight's game. On the other hand, the Shreyas Iyer-led side will want to keep their momentum flowing after having won two out of their three games.
As the two sides prepare for the face-off, KKR's bowling all-rounder Sunil Narine has a very important milestone coming up. Narine needs five more wickets to become the first player to pick up 150 IPL wickets for the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Moreover, he is just 34 short of reaching 1000 runs in the league. If he gets to both of these milestones against Mumbai, he will become the third player after Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo to score 1000+ runs and take 100+ wickets in the IPL.
Narine has been quite an asset for the Knight Riders, having scored 966 runs in 77 innings and taken 145 wickets in 137 matches. KKR will be hoping he crosses these landmarks against Mumbai itself.
As Narine approaches these records, let's take a look at his three best bowling spells in the competition's history.
#1 5/19 - KKR vs KXIP, IPL 2012:
In the 17th match of IPL 2012, the Kinght Riders faced the Kings XI Punjab in an interesting game. Punjab opened the batting with Adam Gilchrist and Mandeep Singh. Gautham Gambhir, in a brilliant captaincy move, called on Narine early. The West Indian bowled the second over, where he sent Gilchrist back to the pavilion.
Marsh quickly followed him and somehow Punjab's batsmen failed to read Narine at all. He restricted the opposition to 134/9 and finished with his best IPL figures of 5/19.
Though KKR fell short by just two runs in the end, Narine was declared player of the match.
#2 4/13 - KKR vs DD, IPL 2013
The opening game of IPL 2013 was played between Delhi Dardevils and Kolkata Knight Riders. Delhi were put in to bat and even before opening their account saw Unmukt Chand depart for a duck.
Later came Narine, who had his eyes on all the star players in Delhi. As soon as he was handed the ball, he picked up the wicket of the dangerous-looking David Warner, followed by Irfan Pathan and the lethal Andre Russell. He got hold of Ashish Nehra as well and restricted Delhi to just 128/10.
He made things so easy for his side that they romped to the total with six wickets to spare. Narine was named the player of the match for his bowling figures of 4/13.
Check out this IPL purple cap winners from 2008 to 2022 here.
#3 4/21 - RCB vs KKR, IPL 2021
The Eliminator of IPL 2021 was held at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium and was played between Kolkata Kinght Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. One of the most important games of the tournament saw Narine bring out his best.
RCB opted to bat first and opened with Devdutt Padikkal and skipper Virat Kohli. While the duo gave them a flying start, Padikkal was sent back first, which triggered a collapse.
Narine's brilliance didn't allow any of their star players to settle down. He picked up crucial wickets of Virat Kohli, Srikar Bharat, Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers to restrict RCB to 138/7.
While Narine finished with bowling figures of 4/21, he contributed with the bat as well. He came in at five and scored a quick-fire 26(15), including three maximums, to seal the deal for KKR. The Knight Riders won the game by four wickets and Narine walked away with yet another player of the match award.