'No matter what, I want Sunil Narine in my side' - When Gautam Gambhir's KKR went all guns blazing for the Caribbean spinner in IPL 2012 Auction

Sunil Narine is known as one of the most valuable players to play T20 cricket. He made a lot of noise for himself when he started for Trinidad and Tobago. Hence, Kolkata Knight Riders bought him and he has been a mainstay in the team line-up. The Caribbean was a part of the team when they won the title both in 2012 and 2014.

KKR was a team that had all the big names since the inaugural season but was never able to make the impact. When they bought Gautam Gambhir in 2011 and made him captain straight away, the picture changed. With his aggressive mindset and leadership ability, he made them win IPL twice in three years.

‘Gautam Gambhir is a leader who gives you the freedom’

The former Indian wicketkeeper, Vijay Dahiya, who was a part of the coaching of the team in 2012, mentioned that Gambhir played a huge role in Yusuf Pathan’s career and grabbing Sunil Narine in 2012 auctions. As the pitch at the Eden Gardens is slow and shot-making is difficult, certain players always outshine there. Yusuf Pathan who likes to hit big against the spinners and Rajat Bhatia, the all-rounder who bowls at a slow pace, played all their games in that season.

“He (Gautam Gambhir) is a leader who gives you the freedom to go out and express yourself. If you look, Yusuf Pathan, Gautam Gambhir, and Rajat Bhatia were three players who played all the games in that season,” Vijay Dahiya told in interaction with Sportskeeda.

“Because of the conditions, Rajat was there, but Yusuf, he was backed. There was pressure on Yusuf because he was not having that sort of a run. Gautam backed him. He had chats with him; the support staff also had chats with him and backed him,” he added.

‘No matter what, I want Sunil in my side’

Dahiya also recalled how the confidence shown by Gambhir transformed Yusuf’s performance and his quickfire fifty against SRH sealed their playoff spot in 2014. Gambhir also was the very reason why KKR signed Narine. As Narine was making his name in T20 format, he was one of the most interesting prospects in the auction that year. Hence, KKR captain wanted to have him in the team.

“I remember before the auction, he was in Australia, the Indian team was touring Australia. He called up and said, ‘No matter what, I want Sunil in my side.’ And that’s the kind of leaders you need,” Dahiya said.

After Gambhir’s advice, Narine was bought by the Kolkata franchise for a 700,000 USD in 2012. He has performed brilliantly since then and won the Most Valuable Player award twice. This decision of Gambhir came out excellently for KKR as even though the Delhi opener moved to Delhi Capitals and then retired, Narine is still playing for KKR in the same fashion. He has taken 114 wickets for them by now and has also contributed with the bat in the recent seasons.