It was on me to keep working on my game to stay relevant: Narine

Written by Shamik ChakrabartyKolkata | Updated: April 19, 2022 7:39:37 am

On Monday, when Sunil Narine steps into the field to play for Kolkata Knight Riders against Rajasthan Royals, he would be playing his 150th game for the franchise. It has been a long journey, 10 years with the Kolkata-based franchise in the Indian Premier League, with several highs and a few lows. He was reported for suspect action twice, the latest being after the game against Kings XI Punjab in 2020.

In an interview with the Knight Riders’ in-house media, kkr.in, the Trinidadian spinner admitted that it was a difficult phase of his career and the challenge was to stay relevant.

“Yeah what happened was probably a few years ago… I think you can never be too comfortable, you do have to continue practicing as much as you can because if you don’t, it’s easy to say that I am good and pack up your boots and start watching cricket. It was all on me to keep training and working on my game to try to stay relevant to the game and try to get back where I was when I started,” Narine said.

Sunil Narine is one game away from playing his 150th T20 match for #KKR

We caught up with the man who went from a small boy in Trinidad to a T20 legend 💜

FULL INTERVIEW ➡️ https://t.co/rvSDC1rHbP#SunilNarine

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 18, 2022

The 33-year-old has 147 wickets from 140 IPL games at an economy rate of 6.67. This year, he so far has taken four wickets from six matches at an economy rate of five. In search for consistency, Narine has worked his socks off at the nets.

“I think over the last two-three years, I have practiced the most in my life. So, the more you do it, the more consistent you can be but it just goes on form at the time. I am feeling good about myself so it helps and based on the situation, if our team is going for runs, I just try to keep it as tight as possible. If we are doing good, I try to pick up wickets. I bowl based on whatever is front of me so I don’t really plan too much before the game,” he told the KKR media.

“𝘔𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐𝘗𝘓 𝘪𝘯 𝘒𝘒𝘙 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴” 💜💛

📽️ FULL INTERVIEW on his 150th match coming up on our YouTube & Facebook pages LIVE at 3:45 PM!#SunilNarine • #KnightsTV presented by @glancescreen | #KKRHaiTaiyaar#IPL2022pic.twitter.com/SBoQ2eWZnc

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 18, 2022

Former English first-class cricketer Carl Crowe played a big role in Narine’s resurrection. Crowe became the spinner’s go-to man when he was reported against for the first time in 2014. Six years later, after being reported for suspect action again, Narine sought out Crowe for course-correction. His action got a few tweaks and he also started to hide the ball in his delivery strides.

“It was my own idea hiding the ball but I worked very closely with Carl Crowe and the first time he saw it, he said it was something we had to try to reach. It gives me a slight upper hand because batters can only see the ball at the point-of-delivery. He was more keen to getting it started even sooner but it all worked out the way it was supposed to work out.” Narine said.

Mamba King all set for his 1️⃣5️⃣0️⃣th T20 match for KKR tonight! Sunil Narine – a small boy from Trinidad to a legend of cricket’s shortest format 🇹🇹✈️🌏#SunilNarine • #KnightsTV presented by @glancescreen | #KKRHaiTaiyaar#IPL2022pic.twitter.com/S68ZUIFJem

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 18, 2022

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This was the period when he developed his back-of-the-hand delivery as well, although initially Narine wasn’t too confident to use it in games. “I started constantly bowling it two years ago. I kept trying it but it wasn’t feeling great even when Robin Uthappa was in KKR, he was like, ‘Why don’t you start bowling it?’ I was like’ ‘I don’t want to start it as yet. I just want to make sure it comes out well’. Any time you try something new and it doesn’t go great, people can bash you and say whatever but if you wait for the right time to do what is needed and try it based on the conditions, it will suit you more and you can execute it with more confidence.”

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