KKR vs SRH: Sunil Narine on the verge of becoming first cricketer in IPL history to achieve this milestone
Published - 26 May 2024, 05:26 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:12 AM
KKR all-rounder Sunil Narine is on the verge of a massive record as Kolkata Knight Riders will be playing their fourth IPL final on Sunday against SRH and Narine will have a key role to play in the big game with bat and ball.
KKR defeated SRH in Qualifier 1 and will be facing the same team in the final as well. In 28 games between the two sides, KKR have won 18 games while SRH nine. However, the pressure of this big final is different altogether.
Sunil Narine is the highest run-getter for KKR this season. He has been absolutely fantastic throughout this season scoring runs and taking wickets for KKR. He is on 482 runs for the season and has picked 16 wickets so far. He needs 18 more runs to become the first player ever in the IPL to score 500 runs and pick up more than 15 wickets.
Sunil Narine In IPL 2024 So Far: 482 Runs, 16 Wickets
Previously Andre Russell from KKR scored 510 runs and picked up 11 wickets in IPL 2019 as he won the MVP award that year. Sunil Narine is leading the race for the award this year and is very likely to be the winner of that award as well. He previously won the MVP award in 2017 and 2018.
Sunil Narine scored his maiden IPL ton this year against Rajasthan Royals and became just the third KKR batter to score a century in the history of the franchise. He formed a terrific opening partnership with Phil Salt (432 runs from 12 matches) throughout the league stage.
Now with Salt unavailable, he will be opening with Rahmanullah Gurbaz who is an attacking batter himself and will open the batting in the final against SRH. The two batters gave KKR a good start in Qualifier 1 against the same opposition as well.
KKR topped the table at the end of the league stage for the first time in their history. They ended with 20 points and two of their matches were rained out. The KKR bowlers cumulatively have taken more than 60 wickets so far in the tournament. Varun Chakrvarthy is the third-highest wicket-taker with 20 wickets. He will get a chance to add to his tally in the final as will Narine.
Mitchell Starc after a slow start to the season has picked up 15 wickets, Harshit Rana 17 wickets, and Vaibhav Arora 10 wickets so far. The three pacers will get a chance to add to their tally as well.
Meanwhile, this is the third time that both these teams will face each other this season. This is also the first time that KKR and SRH are playing each other in an IPL final. Both teams are seeking for their third time. KKR have defeated SRH twice this season so far.
At the captain's press conference ahead of the final, Pat Cummins was very cheeky with his responses to the questions posed to him. Shreyas Iyer, on the other hand, was very direct with his responses.
"To be honest, I feel whatever the nature is going to provide to you at that particular point of time... if it [dew] has to happen, it will happen. You have no control over it. All you have control over is your skills and your abilities and how strong your mindset is tomorrow. I think basically you should focus on that rather than the dew factor," said Iyer when questioned on the dew factor.
