Kolkata Knight Riders’ opener Sunil Narine revealed how the team’s mentor Gautam Gambhir’s advice helped him in IPL 2024. KKR lifted their third IPL title by beating Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday.
Narine was awarded the Most Valueable Player of the season for his consistent performances with both bat and ball. Narine said Gambhir told him to enjoy the opening role and try to win a few games for the team.
The southpaw scored 488 runs in 14 matches of IPL 2024 at an average of 34.86 and a blistering strike rate of 180.74. Furthermore, Narine scalped 17 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 21.65 and a parisminious economy rate of 6.69. Thus, he played an instrumental role in taking KKR to glory as he delivered with both bat and ball and won more than a few games for his team.
Sunil Narine said after the IPL final win, “Coming into the ground today, it felt like 2012. The feeling is overwhelming and I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday gift. I am enjoying my cricket at the moment – batting, bowling and fielding. What helps is when the team is winning. We have a great bunch of guys who put out a lot of work throughout the season. The fight they gave throughout the season was very good and it shows how good a team we are. (Batting) Getting the role to just go there and express myself, trying to get the team off to a flier, that’s key. The backing of the support staff, especially GG just saying – “go there and enjoy it, just try to win a few games for the team. I am not asking you to do the entire season, but just a few games.” That was very good advice.”
Narine also showered praise on spin partner Varun Chakravarthy. The mystery spinner ended the tournament as the second-highest wicket-taker as he bagged 21 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 19.14.
The West Indian concluded, “Varun Chakaravarthy is a world-class bowler, he puts in the work. Whatever happens on the field, it’s what he does off the field. The whole bowling line-up, we always pick early wickets, so we come to bowl under less pressure. As a total bowling unit, picking up wickets is key and it helped us win the title.”
KKR came up with a collective show and deserved the IPL title.
