KOLKATA, West Indies captain Rovman Powell says efforts are on to persuade in-form Sunil Narine to come out of international retirement for this year’s T20 World Cup but the Kolkata Knight Riders star has so far “blocked” everyone he has tried to talk to. him
Narine, who turns 36 next month, last played in a T20 international for West Indies in August 2019 before retiring from international cricket in November last year to focus on franchise T20 leagues around the world.
But due to his sensational form with both bat and ball this IPL season, attempts have been made to persuade Narine to change his decision for the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA in June.
“For the last 12 months, I’ve been whispering in his ear, he’s blocked everyone. Pollard, Bravo, Pooran, before he picked a team, hopefully he could crack his code,” said Powell of his IPL team Rajasthan Royals. Narine’s thrilling two-wicket win over KKR in a record IPL chase of 224 runs.
A key member of KKR since 2012, Narine scored 109 off 56 balls to set the tone for their magnificent 223/6.
He is KKR’s leading spinner and their leading run scorer this season. With the ball, he has seven wickets and an economy rate of 6.87.
“It was a great innings to watch. Sunil has done well at the top for KKR this season. He is my fellow West Indies and hopefully he can continue to do well.
“As a West Indian, it’s always nice to see your countrymen do well in the IPL,” Powell later said at the post-match press conference.
Rajasthan opener Jos Buttler anchored the Royals’ chase with an unbeaten 107, while Powell played a key role with 26 off 13 balls.
It came at a time when runs were starting to dry up, and the 30-year-old set the tone for the Jamaican, blasting Narine, who had conceded 16 runs in the 17th over, for a boundary and consecutive sixes.
“I started trying to hit, put Sunil down as their main bowler and gave the boys the belief that if Sunil Narine goes for runs, then anyone else can go for runs and fuel the right through the pack,” Powell said of the bowler. Had not conceded a boundary at Eden Gardens this season before last night.
“I said to Jose, ‘Relax, I’ll try to hit some sixes’ because he was trying to hit the ball and he didn’t connect. So I’ll go and try to hit some sixes. Get out, then you’ll take the effort to hit those big sixes.'” he added.
The West Indies skipper felt that in today’s age of “data and technology” such an impressive innings gets no mention.
“In T20 cricket, a lot of guys don’t get credit for playing impressive innings. There’s a lot of technology that gives data to the innings that guys play, but not enough data or technology to pick up the impact,” he rud.
Buttler overcame a leg injury to be fit in time for Tuesday’s game.
“At one stage, we thought he would miss more than one game. But the support staff and the physio worked with him a lot and he only missed one game.
“I’ve seen ‘universe boss Chris Gayle’ score some really amazing centuries and this one is definitely in the top five to be honest.
“It’s one of the best games to chase, to be on the winning side of a 220-run chase in a T20 match, with a ramp-up crowd, leave a special feeling in your mouth at Eden Gardens,” he signed off.
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