Sunil Narine Needs To Be Amongst The Wickets For KKR As Well: Pragyan Ojha

Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowling all-rounder Sunil Narine marked his return with a breezy half-century against Delhi Capitals in Abu Dhabi. Sunil Narine struck 64 off 32 deliveries that included six fours and four sixes to bring Knight Riders back into the game. It helped them post 194, beating the opposition comfortably Nevertheless, Pragyan Ojha believes that the 32-year old needs to pick wickets as well and not just score runs.

Sunil Narine missed two games of Kolkata Knight Riders after having been reported of suspect bowling action. The Trinidad cricketer opened in the first few matches; however, could not make an impact like he used to. As far as the wickets column go, the off-spinner has only five in seven fixtures in IPL 2020. Narine is one of the prolific wicket-takers, having claimed 127 scalps in 117 IPL games at 24.09 with seven four-wicket hauls and one fifer.

Pragyan Ojha observed that Sunil Narine played his shots freely with the bat; however, seemed like he wanted to get his overs done with the ball. The former left-arm spinner conceded that bowlers like Narine, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Rashid Khan are attacking bowlers, whose strength is snapping wickets. Hence, not playing that way does not serve the purpose.

“When he was batting you could see he was freely playing his shots, but when it came to bowling he seemed to just want to get done with his overs. And when you talk about Sunil Narine, Rashid Khan and Yuzvendra Chahal, their strength is picking wickets and being attacking, and if you are not attacking then you are just being like the other bowlers, and you are not giving the best to your team,” Ojha told Sports Today.

“It will be interesting to see how Sunil Narine reacts now” : Pragyan Ojha

The 34-year old stated it would be exciting to see how Sunil Narine performs now, considering it is the business end of IPL 2020. He applauded the 32-year old’s ability to get the runs; however, wickets are equally crucial as a specialist bowler. Kolkata Knight Riders will face Kings XI Punjab in the 46th match of IPL 2020 in Dubai on Monday.

“It will be interesting to see how Narine reacts now, as the KKR are almost at the business end of the tournament, and they will play some important games. So, it is important that Sunil Narine is back as a bowler, as a batsman he is brilliant and is getting those runs. But I would like to see Sunil Narine the bowler and how he bowls in the remaining fixtures,” he added.

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