Birthday special: Sunil Narine – Five best IPL performances by the mystery spinner
Sunil Narine has been one of the most successful spinners in the history of IPL. He is celebrating his 33rd birthday today i.e on 26th May 2021. Narine has displayed some terrific performances in his IPL career so far. He made his debut in the league in 2012 with the KKR team. Since then, he has been a vital part of their squad. In this article, we will be listing out 5 best IPL performance by Sunil Narine.
5/19 vs KXIP, 2012
In this match played between Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab in 2012, Sunil Narine registered his best figures in IPL. The Punjab team could score only 134/9 in 20 overs while batting first with an excellent spell from Narine. He picked up 5 wickets for 19 runs in his 4 overs. However, in the end, KKR lost the match by 2 runs as they managed to score only 132/7 in 20 overs.
4/19 vs KXIP, 2015
Sunil Narine showed his class again in this IPL game played in 2015. The KXIP batting line-up looked in excellent touch in this match against KKR. All their top 5 batsmen got good starts and scored at an impressive rate.
KXIP posted a total of 183/5 in 20 overs batting first. On one side where all the KKR bowlers went for plenty of runs, Narine gave only 19 runs off his 4 overs and picked up the first 4 wickets of KXIP. The Kolkata team eventually won this match by 1 wicket in the second last ball.
54(17) vs RCB, 2017
This was the match when Sunil Narine, the batsman, impressed more than the bowler. RCB had posted a score of 158/6 in 20 overs with Narine picking up 2 wickets for 29 runs. In the chase, Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn took RCB bowlers for cleaners and added a partnership of over 100 runs only in the powerplay.
Narine completed his fifty in only 15 balls, which was then joint-fastest IPL fifty. He scored 54 runs off 17 balls including 6 fours and 4 sixes. KKR chased down the total in only 15.1 overs and won the match by 6 wickets.
4/13 vs DD, 2013
In this IPL game played in IPL 2013, the Delhi team looked well in control of the innings with captain Mahela Jayawardene scoring a fine fifty. However, it was Sunil Narine’s magical spell which left their batting line-up completely bamboozled. The whole team got all-out for 128 runs in 20 overs.
In the chase, KKR batsmen did well to win the match with 8 balls to spare by six wickets. Gautam Gambhir was the top scorer for the Delhi team with 41 runs coming off his bat in 29 balls.
75(36) vs KXIP, 2018
Sunil Narine registered his highest IPL score against Punjab in IPL 2018. While opening the batting, Narine smashed 75 runs off only 36 balls including 9 fours and 4 sixes. The KKR team put up a total of 245/6 in 20 overs with captain Dinesh Karthik also contributing with a fifty. The KXIP team fought well in the chase but could manage only 214/8 in the end thus losing the match by 31 runs.
