Sunil Narine's top 5 all-round performances in the IPL ft. 2024 vs RR
Sunil Narine, who has become one of the mainstays of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ever since he joined the franchise in 2012, has lit up the ongoing edition of the IPL with his antics with both bat and ball.
The brilliant ton he scored against the Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens on Tuesday has catapulted him to the third position of the leading run-getters this year with 276 runs. The Trinidadian also has seven scalps to his name and is placed in the 12th spot of the leading wicket-takers in the tournament.
Narine is one of the finest all-rounders that the tournament has seen, who adds a lot of value to the KKR side both with his batting and bowling. The masterstroke of asking him to open the innings has worked more often than not.
In this listicle, we bring to you Sunil Narine's top five all-round performances in the IPL.
#1 109 and 2/30 vs Rajasthan Royals, 2024
Sunil Narine put up one of the finest all-round performances of his career against the Rajasthan Royals in the 31st match of IPL 2024 at Eden Gardens on April 16.
Batting first, Narine scored a swashbuckling century to help prop KKR's score to 223-6. His 109 came off just 56 deliveries and included 13 boundaries and six maximums.
Narine then returned to record figures of 2/30 in the four overs. Unfortunately, he could not prevent his opponents from running away with this game, with Jos Buttler scoring an unbeaten 60-ball 107 to see his team home.
#2 4/21 and 26 off 15 vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 2021
Another of Sunil Narine's stellar all-round showings came against RCB at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in IPL 2021 Eliminator.
Batting first, RCB could only muster a modest total of 138/7, largely due to Narine picking up the wickets of Virat Kohli, KS Bharat, Glenn Maxwell, and AB de Villiers. The off-spinner conceded just 21 runs in the process.
KKR did not have it all that easy while chasing this total down, and Narine was called to play a cameo. The left-hander smacked 26 off just 15 deliveries to help them seal the deal. Cameos from Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, and Venkatesh Iyer helped as well.
Despite winning the Eliminator, and later the Qualifier 2, KKR would go on to lose in the final of this tournament to the Chennai Super Kings.
#3 2/29 and 54 off 17 balls vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 2017
RCB appear to be one of Sunil Narine's favorite teams to play against. Another of his scintillating performances came against them at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in IPL 2017.
The hosts batted first on this occasion as well and scored a decent 158/6. Mandeep Singh and Travis Head struck half-centuries to help their team, while Narine ended with figures of 2/29.
KKR, in reply, chased those runs down quite comfortably in just 15.1 overs, thanks largely to Narine scoring 54 off just seventeen deliveries. The Trinidadian, along with his fellow opener Chris Lynn, got his team off to a solid start and ensured that the visitors went home with all two points inside their pockets.
#4 0/22 and 47 off 19 balls vs Rajasthan Royals, 2019
Sunil Narine was at his imperial best against RR at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in the 21st match of IPL 2019.
The hosts batted first and scored 139/3 in their quota of 20 overs. Jos Butter (37) and Steven Smith (73) were the only batters of RR who could get hold of the KKR bowling attack and hit shots with confidence.
Although Narine did not pick up a wicket in this game, he bowled with accuracy to give away just 22 runs in his quota of four overs. The KKR all-rounder conceded his runs at an impressive economy of 5.50 and then returned to score a quickfire 47 off just 19 deliveries. He hit six boundaries and three sixes in his innings.
The Knight Riders chased these runs down comfortably in just 13.5 overs.
#5 85 off 39 and 1/29 vs Delhi Capitals, 2024
One of the finest all-round performances from Sunil Narine came against the Delhi Capitals earlier this season at the YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam on April 3.
KKR batted first and put up a mammoth total of 272/7 on the board, most of which came due to Narine's 85 off just 39 balls at the top of the order. Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Andre Russell also played major roles in ensuring that the visiting side got to this total.
In reply, DC were bowled out for a mere 166 within 17.2 overs although skipper Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubbs hit half-centuries. Narine returned with figures of 1-29 in his four overs and was responsible for keeping the scoring rate within check at all times.