Enigma of Sunil Narine: Unveiling the mystery

Sunil Narine the Mohwak wearer from West Indies is a familiar name among the cricket frenzy fans in India .All credit to the Kolkata Knight Riders who roped him in their IPL side when he was an unknown commodity. With every season his fan following has grown and now his ardent followers are not limited to India or West Indies in fact they are spread all across the world.T20 franchises across the world want him to play for their team as he increases the strength of any team with his magical bowling and he captivates fans . What gives him an edge over other stars who shot to fame and fade away is the X-factor that he has, his zing, the simplicity, extreme focus and a cool cricketing head on his shoulders.

Over the years Gayle storm has faded -off, we no longer get to see the DilScoop from Dilshan and Steyn Gun occasionally misfires too in T20. But this man Sunil Narine never fails to stamp his authority on a T20 match be it in IPL, Caribbean Premier League (CPL) or the Champions League T20 and even for his national team West Indies. In short he is piece-de-resistance for international team as well as for every franchise he represents.

In the slog over he is as consistent as movies of Amitabh Bachan in 1980’s . Batsman either play his over out dry and if they attempt an extravagant stroke more often than not they see their stumps being rattled or hold out in the deep . Comeuppance comes once in a blue moon for this Trinand and Tobago mysterious magician.

In 2012 IPL auction KKR bought him and since then he has been an absolute revelation for them, In the first season itself he bagged the Player of The Tournament award which earned him a place among the elite list which comprises of Sachin Tendulkar, Chris Gayle Adam Gilchrist and Shane Watson to name a few.

Narine has been the wrecker in chief for the KKR and has transformed them from an average team to a champion one. The team with an average bowling attack is being termed “Bowling Heavyweight” since his arrival. He also gives Gambhir the freedom to maneuver around with other bowlers as he make him bowl the most difficult over’s of the match. First one in Power Play and then saves rest of his over’s for the end when batsman go hammer and tongs.

In the 4 over’s that he bowls he changes the total complexion of the match classic example being the opening match of CLT20 in which CSK were going smoothly until the 18^thover when Narine came and bowled a maiden. In the 19^th over of the innings at a time when any other bowler will not settle for less than 10 runs in an over.

If you think bowling a maiden in a penultimate over is a massive achievement then what will you term bowling a maiden in SUPER Over. If that is not enough call it a SUPER Maiden over with a wicket. Perhaps, we would call it SUPERHUMAN achievement. This guy has accomplished that landmark too as he bowled an astonishing wicket maiden in the Super over of A Caribbean T20 League match playing for Guyana Amazon Warriors against T&T Red Steels .

Ross Taylor, an accomplished International batsman and hard hitting Nicolas Pooran were completely bamboozled by him as they could not score a single run. By doing this, Narine became the first bowler in history of T20 cricket to bowl a maiden in super over. This is a mindboggling record to own, which will be mighty tough for others to break.

His T20 stats are astounding in the 143 T20 international matches he has played thus far he has grabbed 183 wickets at an unbelievable economy rate of 5.45 per over. So, what makes him different from any other bowler in this format? What is the core reason behind his success? These are few pertinent questions which must have arisen in a fan’s mind.

So here’s my attempt to answer them.

There is not any one major secret or mystery behind his success in fact multiple factors differentiate him from any other spinner in the world in T20 format.

Narine has got more weapons in his arsenal than any other Off Spinner in international cricket. His knuckle ball is highly deceptive and addendum to this he bowls with full sleeves which makes it even more difficult to read him off the hand. A high arm action helps him to extract maximum amount of bounce from the pitch which makes slogging incredibly tough in any condition. His prowess to pitch maximum amount of balls in right areas with impeccable accuracy and adroitness to remain calm under the most intense situation make him the class apart from rest.

Nothing is impossible is a famous quote we often hear, every problem has a solution so definitely there is solution to the enigma of Narine too. Let’s try and find out how players can deal with vicious deliveries of Narine.

The Solution

If you would have watched the KKR vs DD match of last season IPL closely you must have noticed there was only one batsman which had no problem in dealing with Narine that was Kedhar Jadhav of the Delhi Daredevils. Though his team performed miserably in the tournament but he won the one on one battle with Narine hands down. Reason behind it was he played Narine as late as he possibly could. Jadhav hardly pre meditated and rarely committed himself towards any stroke. He tried to play all his Good length deliveries off the back foot through point and the cover region.

Even if the batsman is not able to picking up Narine with his hand they can excel by reading him off the pitch. There is a certain pattern to Narine bowling. He generally pitches the away going balls on Middle stump and the traditional off spinner outside the off Stump. So right handed batsman even without reading him off the hand can score of him though it will be difficult for Left hander’s to judge his line from this pattern.

Mystery of Ajanta Mendis was quickly solved by the Indian batsmen after the Asia Cup Final fiasco. But it’s been three years since Narine burst on to the scene and still batsmen have not been able to pick out a remedy of dealing with his bowling. There is so much of technology involved in cricket these days with video analysis and technical expert’s unveiling every secret aspect. Sunil Narine has been phenomenal in maintaining his mystery.

The ICC these days is being stern on the bowling actions and his action being reported by the umpires during the CLT20. It will be intriguing to see whether the enigma of Sunil Narine continues to elude the revealers or loses the battle to technology and opposition brains. Till them you are a mysterious magician Narine.

Sunil Narine IPL stats year by year –