TKR player profile: Narine a nightmare for batsmen

In Sunil Narine, the Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) have a "mystery spinner" and a lethal weapon which can be used to win any T20 cricket match – or tournament.

These days, the 35-year-old off-spinner may no longer be a total mystery to many opposing batsmen, but his subtle changes and variations still make him a nightmare for opposition in the fast-paced T20 game.

Alongside his TKR teammates Dwayne Bravo and captain Kieron Pollard, Narine has made a name for himself as a global T20 superstar and has arguably been the best off-spinner in the format for the last decade.

Narine's T20 record across the various tournaments he has played in is simply outstanding.

He has played a staggering 477 T20 matches since debuting for TT in the format in 2011, with his career-haul of 519 wickets third only to Bravo (619 wickets) and Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan (556 wickets) among all T20 bowlers.

In the prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament, Narine has amassed 163 wickets during his 11-year stint with his Kolkata Knight Riders franchise, helping them to titles in the 2012 and 2014 seasons. Narine also copped the Player of the Tournament award in the 2012 season, when he took 24 wickets, with an impressive economy rate of 5.48 runs per over.

Though the off-spinner's career saw him playing just 51 T20 internationals for the West Indies, the tricky Narine still had quite an impact in the maroon of the Caribbean team, helping them to their maiden World T20 title in 2012. At the absolute peak of his powers at the World T20 tournament, Narine took jaw-dropping figures of three for nine in the grand finale against the hosts Sri Lanka in Colombo, as Daren Sammy's WI team pulled off an improbable 36-run victory in a low-scoring contest.

Narine, along with Bravo, Pollard and the swashbuckling Andre Russell, all of whom featured in that famous World T20 triumph, have teamed up on the TKR team to try and deliver a fifth CPL title to the TT franchise.

Narine, who is used to excellent effect in the power play or during the middle overs as the opposition batsmen try to accelerate the run rate, shows no signs of slowing down, joining the CPL's "100 club," with his 100th match of the tournament coming versus the Barbados Royals in a 133-run TKR win on Wednesday.

Narine's CPL journey did not start with TKR, though, as he was a key figure for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the first three editions of the tournament from 2013-15. Narine finished as a runner-up with the Warriors in the CPL's first two seasons, before making the move to TKR in 2016.

Having won their first title under the TT Red Steel banner in 2015, success would soon follow for Narine and the rebranded TKR, as the TT franchise won back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018, before strutting to a fourth CPL crown with a perfect record in the 2020 season.

Over the course of the last three CPL seasons, Narine has taken a combined total of 29 wickets, while his economy over the same period was a miserly 4.57 runs per over.

Narine is no slouch with the bat either and has also scored three CPL 50s, with a top score of 79 coming against the Barbados Tridents in a Man of the Match performance at the Queen's Park Oval in 2017.

It's with the ball that Narine is king, though, and with Akeal Hosein and young Afghan spinner Waqar Salamkheil now at captain Pollard's disposal, he'll do his utmost to spin TKR to yet another title.