The whole cricketing world based its focus of attention on the IPL 2024 final cricket match, which once again unveiled magnificent and outstanding performances of live cricket stars like Venkatesh Iyer, Shubman Gill, Mitchell Starc, and a very talented and efficient Captain of Heibel Delhi Capitals, Shreyas Iyer.
However, during the jubilation of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) massive victory, there is one name that stands out – Sunil Narine. The calm and collected chord-spinner, with a clingy action and bag of tricks, claimed the position of KKR’s essential silent knight and walked away with the deserved accolade of Player of the Tournament.
Narine’s Consistent Web Throughout the Season
During IPL season, which is a very hectic competitive cricket, Narine spun an unbearable web of consistencies that wasn’t his bowling.
His wasn’t a campaign of fast bowling, of intimidating pace and a wagon-load of wickets, but of a yielding string of wickets at the right times and preventing boundaries and big hits in between, all of which served KKR well.
Game after game, Narine bowled tight and miserly overs and restricted the batsmen very well, and piled pressure on the overall run rate. His changes in rhythm, flight, line, and length, like the lethal carrom ball, left the batsmen hapless and restricted their liberty for scoring.
More Than Just Wickets: Narine’s Contribution with the Bat
Narine is not only an asset as a bowler but is also a great asset to the KKR side. Due to all these qualities, he has the ability to bring another holistic addition to the team.
He was not much of a scorer, but whatever little he did had value as it used to boost up KKR’s innings. He was a strange striker of the ball, who found the ropes with the classical bow and hence always rotated the strike, enabling Narine the luxury of leaving the pressure on the regular openers.
His timely knock in the last league match against Delhi Capitals, where he scored 22 OFF just 14 balls, proved the turning point for KKR, where they posted a challenging total and clinched a vital win.
The Epitome of Calmness and Control
Apart from being a great cricket player, Narine is very cool-headed and has lots of Narine’s, which was a plus for the KKR team. In such circumstances, full of pressure, he was a kind KKR man who tried to maintain order. His participation in the bowling cobbled the younger pacers like Prasidh Krishna and Kamlesh Nagarkoti to deal with the burden of the bKKR’sg attack.
A Well-Deserved Recognition and a Fitting End
This is why Sunil Narine deserves to be the Player of the Tournament for the contribution that has been made for KKR to gain the title. KKR may never have had a dazzling cricketer on the team, but there was nobody quite like Narine to deliver accurate line and length, critical bowling spells, and all-around contributions that were critical for that team.
As the champagne dries up and the deserved bass Carnival hits efficiency after the IPL 2024 victory parade, one cannot but notice that there is a man behind the curtain, smiling: Sunil Narine, the world beaming with trickery and skill, has gained his third IPL crown for KKR.
