olkata Knight Riders spinner Sunil Narine has picked up 7 wickets, bowling 7 maiden overs ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 campaign. Interestingly, Narine was about to jet off to India to join up with his KKR teammates however, his flight got delayed and thus he ended up playing in the T&T Cricket Board Premiership Division I, bowling a fiery spell.
Narine lined up for Queen’s Park Cricket Club I, as they squared off against Clarke Road United at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair, Port-of-Spain.
In his past three matches, the Caribbean cricketer had claimed 31 wickets including four back-to-back five-wicket hauls. Narine completely bamboozled the opposition batters as he picked up 7 wickets, bowling a total of 7 maiden overs.
Earlier in the match, Queen’s Park had decided to bowl first given the pitch was already a used surface. Before Narine could spell his magic, Jon Russ Jaggesar and Sion Hacket rattled the top three batters of Clarke Road.
Dejourn Charles, Nicholas Sookdeosingh and Joshua Persaud departed and then it was all about Sunil Narine and his masterclass. Courtesy of his fiery spell, the 34-year-old restricted the opposition side to a paltry 76 runs in just 24 overs.
In reply, when Queen’s Park came out to bat, it seemed that they were batting on an entirely different surface as they recorded a total of 268 for 3 before declaring.
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Meanwhile, it was just a stroke of coincidence that Narien’s flight got delayed and he ended up playing the match. It must have been a well-deserved boost for the Caribbean ace on a personal level as well after his woeful spell as captain of Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in ILT20, which saw the franchise win just 1 match in a total of 10 league outings.
Kolkata Knight Riders are all set to kick-start their IPL 2023 campaign on April 1 with a meeting against Punjab Kings in the afternoon fixture. The franchise co-owned by Shah Rukh Khan has already been dealt a massive blow with the injury to captain Shreyas Iyer.
As per reports, Narine could be in the fray to lead KKR should Iyer remain unavailable for the IPL 2023 season, however, there has been no official word regarding the same.
