Kolkata Knight Riders’ all-rounder Sunil Narine continues having an excellent Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign, as in his latest endeavour – against Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday (14 April) – he recorded spending bowling figures of 4-0-17-1. Despite his sublime form, however, Narine has confirmed he will not be featuring for the West Indies team at the T20 World Cup later this year.
Notably, Narine is among the major reasons behind the Knight Riders’ resurgence in IPL 2024. Not only has he scalped five wickets at a miser economy rate of 6.75 runs per over, but he also has been effective with the bat as an opener, having scored 167 runs at an average of 33.40 and a strike rate of 183.51.
But having announced his international retirement in November 2023, the Trinidadian cricketer has confirmed he has no plans of returning in the maroon of West Indies. On being asked about his plans for the T20 World Cup by Samuel Badree, Narine replied “I will be watching it from my home.”
Narine, who has represented West Indies on 122 occasions – six Tests, 65 ODIs and 51 T20Is – has not played international cricket since 2019. In the last five years, he has also featured in franchise tournaments.
Kolkata Knight Riders have had an excellent start to the season, winning five of their first six matches. Speaking on his team’s performance, Narine said “We have won two out of two (matches at home). The boys are keen and everyone is enjoying it. Once you enjoy, you will have fun.”
While Narine could not contribute with the bat in the Knight Riders’ eight-wicket win over the Super Giants, Phil Salt was the star of the show, scoring a 47-ball 89. Speaking on the Englishman’s batting, Narine stated "He has played well in every game. He has shown some fine form and hopefully he'll keep going and get some big runs."
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