KOLKATA: Sunil Narine’s opening has proved to be a masterstroke for Kolkata Knight Riders in this season’s IPL and the credit for the West Indies’ run should go to team mentor Gautam Gambhir, feels Rinku Singh.
Narine scored his maiden T20I century against Rajasthan Royals on 109 off 56 balls on Tuesday.
His form at the top this season has not been remarkable, he has aggregated just 154 runs in the last three seasons while batting in the lower order. As an opener this season, he has already amassed 276 runs in six matches.
After scoring a memorable ton at the Eden Gardens, Narine credited former captain Gambhir with opening for the first time since 2017.
In the post-match interaction, Rinku echoed Narine’s words.
“You can see the way Narine is batting this time. Every game he is scoring runs, opening the batting and that’s just his imagination,” said Rinku.
When Narine hit the IPL’s fastest fifty in 15 balls as an opener under Gambhir in 2017, he gradually bettered the record held by KL Rahul, Pat Cummins and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Narine scored a 13-ball 50 for Comilla Victorians in Bangladesh Premier League in 2022 against Chattogram Challengers.
Earlier he used to swing his bat, but this time Narine can be seen batting with skill and poise as his stroke-making in the arc has improved a lot.
Asked about the transformation, Rinku said: “Nothing much has changed. It’s the result of his sheer hard work in the nets.
“I have noticed a change where he is more patient now. Earlier he was swinging his bat for every ball, now he is restraining himself and playing according to the merits of the ball. He is batting thoughtfully and intelligently.”
But Narine’s century went in vain as Jos Buttler produced his master class to single-handedly lead Rajasthan Royals to an eight-wicket victory in the final ball of the match.
“It happens sometimes but it doesn’t affect much. Our team is working very well. We are not thinking too much. Credit to RR who has done well. Also, you need a bit of luck on your side. This was the day. Buttler is credited with the turning point of this innings,” said Rinku.
With KKR’s top order strong this time around, finisher Rinku, who was KKR’s leading run-getter with 474 runs at 59.25 in IPL 2023, is not getting many chances.
Rinku has scored 83 runs at an average of 27.66 this season and is yet to score a half-century. But his strike-rate was 184-plus.
“Our top-order batsmen are doing so well that I am not getting many opportunities to showcase my batting this time.”
Rinku played as an impact sub on Tuesday and that was due to a niggle.
“I had no doubt, I will be back to play the full match against RCB on Sunday,” he said.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modification to the text.