Sunil Narine - Kolkata Knight Riders’ problem child?

Kolkata Knight Riders’ story of transformation from the tournament’s laggards to innovators is an outstanding one for the sport. With a change in management, a change in the entire roster was seen since 2011. The franchise realized that it needed to iron out their weaknesses in order to become the successful team that they envisioned themselves to be, and not just be the team to increase the entertainment aspect, because of a Bollywood superstar being its owner.

Winning two IPL titles and making it to the playoffs in three seasons out of seven, make an impressive reading in an unpredictable format like T20 cricket. One of the major reasons of KKR’s success has been West Indies’ off-spinner Sunil Narine.

Sure, nothing can be taken away from Gautam Gambhir’s inspirational leadership. Yet, as they say, and what Gambhir believes in strongly as well, ‘A captain is as good as his team’. In this case, Gambhir was helped to a huge extent by his bowlers, with Narine proving to be extremely skillful and nearly unplayable for almost all opposition batsmen.

This was the story between 2012 and 2014. Narine managed to pick up 20+ wickets every season, featuring in all of Knight Riders’ matches. His economy rate ranged from 5-7 often. Certainly, these are divine numbers for a style of bowling that is expected to get thrashed in this format.

However, the story had a twist for the worst. Since the 2015 season, the West Indian was confined to play in lesser number of games due to his bowling action being considered suspect by the ICC or local authorities. And the exact same thing has happened during the Pakistan Super League 2018, in which he is playing for Brendon McCullum’s Lahore Qalandars.

Sunil Narine celebrates after taking a wicket for the Trinbago Knight Riders in the CPL 2017

A bowler’s identity lies in his or her bowling action. They have trained hard over the years, working out their way of success through it. Now imagine asking someone to change it and expect them to come back strongly in a short period of time! Narine may not be the most expressive player on the field, but surely his confidence will take a beating every time he is reported for his action.

It wasn’t easy for Narine to return to his peak in the IPL during the 2015-17 period. His wicket-taking ability reduced as batsmen found it much easier to pick his bowling, which lacked several of his enviable variations. Could the pitches, that became more flatter and favourable to fast bowling also have led to his downfall? There could be a strong possibility.

Kolkata have gradually learned to invest in their young, best talents by being loyal to them in giving a long rope even if they fail. Narine is one such example. Their fondness for him is also seen in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), where he plays for the Trinbago Knight Riders franchise which also has the same owners.

Trinbago won the 2015 and 2017 titles and co-incidentally, Narine had a huge role to play in those as well. His economy rate hovered in the 5-6 range and with an average of one wicket per match, he proved to be Dwayne Bravo’s go-to man in crunch situations.

Sunil Narine has surprised many opponents with his aggressive batting at the top of the order

Perhaps, Narine’s better returns in this period in the Caribbean could be attributed to the fact that opponents still rate him extremely high and pitches there are still conducive to spinners thriving. Possibly, the quality of opposition also matters. IPL teams have a variety of players from across the globe who are the best in the business, while leagues such as the CPL and BBL see a relatively lesser amount of overseas players featuring in them.

During this time, Narine has also evidently worked on his batting. Being the pinch-hitter opener, he has given his franchises some very quick starts, if not big scores. One could suspect that this could be a move by him to make him continue being relevant and valuable for teams, as somewhere, his bowling has become more about containing runs than picking up wickets. All-rounders do sell big in T20 cricket!

As admirable as Narine is to adapt quickly, working on your weaknesses by compromising on your strengths can diminish your value.

Coming to the IPL 2018, Kolkata’s decision to straightaway retain Narine alongside Andre Russell before the auction, seems to be more of an emotional one than a strategic one. For starters, he was never a leadership candidate. And secondly, Eden Gardens has become more of a fast bowler’s track since the last two seasons.

Yet, had the Knight Riders at least bought him back with the Right to Match card, one might think that they would surely have had more to splurge during the auction. Who knows, that could have made the squad much stronger than it looks. Spending 12.5 crores on the present-day Narine alone could go down arguably as the biggest gamble by a franchise in IPL history. Of course, he is the most expensive Knight Rider in IPL 2018.

Kolkata are clearly banking on him stepping up using his experience. With the team not going for many overseas players this season, he was considered to be a certainty in the playing XI.

However, with a suspect bowling action being his Achilles heel, Narine has to fight his own demons first before a place in the playing XI or his opponents this year. It would take a brave person to predict the West Indian being amongst the top bowlers in the IPL 2018.

At the moment, it is hard to say whether it is his presence or absence that would help KKR win the championship, perhaps making him the team’s problem child at present.