Narine to keep foot on the gas

SUNIL Narine, renowned for his bowling prowess, has been tearing apart the opposition with his bat for the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in this year's Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T20 tournament, and is determined to continue the momentum as he has a tendency to start tournaments on a high and fizzle out after. Narine is the second leading run scorer in the 2020 edition with 103 runs in two innings at an average of 51.50. Guyana Amazon Warriors batsman Shimron Hetmyer leads the way so far with 134 runs, which includes two half centuries.

On Tuesday, in the opening match of the tournament Narine lashed 50 off 28 deliveries with two fours and four sixes to help TKR to a four-wicket win over Amazon Warriors. He did his job with the ball also, grabbing 2/19 in four overs.

Narine had a similar performance on Thursday against Jamaica Tallawahs. The left-handed opener cracked 53 off 38 balls with seven fours and two sixes as TKR pulled off an easy seven-wicket victory. Narine had a solid performance with the ball as he finished with 1/19 in four overs.

After the Tallawahs match, Narine said he wants to push on.

"It's been good...it's good to go out there and perform so you know your hard work is not in vain. It is just the start of the tournament, so hopefully I could continue because I do well in tournaments at the start and don't carry on, but my aim is to try to continue as much as possible and see how much I could really do," Narine said in an interview with CPLT20.

Narine battled with a finger injury in the 2019 Hero CPL and missed five matches. He did not have the most prolific campaign as he scored just 117 runs in seven matches, which included a top score of 46 at an average of 16.71. With the ball he took seven wickets and was economical as usual, ending the tournament with an economy rate of 5.78.

Narine said TKR are trying to make amends after being eliminated in the semifinals in 2019.

"It's always good to win and winning back-to-back games in a tournament (is great), no one has been playing cricket much (because of covid19). It's good for us not starting on the back foot, I think it shows how eager we are. We did not do as well as we wanted to last year with plenty injuries and we have our full team (this year) and we are trying to showcase our talent to the fullest."

Dwayne Bravo, who captained the TT franchise from 2013 to 2018, missed the entire 2019 CPL because of a fractured finger.

TKR captain Kieron Pollard commended the effort of Narine, saying, "It shows how important he is as a player to us. Last year he only played seven games (so) we weren't able to get the best of him. He hasn't played cricket for a while...so he was really hungry for this and what we are seeing is a determined Sunil Narine and when you have a determined Sunil Narine like that, it only augurs well for your team."

Colin Munro, a staple in the TKR top order for years, scored 49 not out off 46 balls with five fours and two sixes.

The TKR skipper said the composure Munro kept was commendable. "Yes he (Narine) was going, but Munro was a bit behind the eight ball, he was nine (runs) of 23 (balls) and again it showed the experience of not giving your hand away at that point in time. As a batter he could've just decided, 'You know what, better I just have a swing and go in (the pavilion) and let someone else come and do it,' but he stuck to the task and again he finished off the game for us."

TKR will play their third match of the tournament against defending champions Barbados Tridents at Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba at 10 am, on Sunday.