M44: KKR vs KXIP – Sunil Narine four-for 2:34 4,157 Views “Sunil Narine is an asset to the side even if he bowls with a straight ball” - these were words of the Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir before the start of this year’s Pepsi IPL. Before the start and now, mystery spinner Sunil Narine has gone through a lot. He missed out on a World Cup spot in an effort to rectify his action and be ready for the IPL, got his action cleared in Loughborough (an ICC testing centre) but was asked to undergo a test again in Chennai and was then cleared for bowling.

Early in the tournament, he again came under the scanner, with the BCCI Suspect Bowling Action committee asking him to refrain using the off-break. He underwent a third biomechanical analysis of his action and was given permission to bowl all his variations including the off-spinner. Six games into the competition and Narine managed to fetch just two wickets in those outings and also proved to be expensive.

But, Narine’s best was yet to come to the fore and it came out well in KKR’s final home game against the Kings XI Punjab. Four wickets in as many overs giving away just 19 in the bargain and Eden truly braced itself for Narine magic on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Narine knocked off the top four from the Kings XI batting lineup and looked his lethal self - being miserly and picking wickets at crucial times.

Remember Gambhir’s words?Narine had just shown why he is such an integral part of KKR. His brilliance with the ball was welcomed with a lot of applause by the KKR dugout that had stood by him through thick and thin. In a chat with iplt20.

com, Narine spoke about the work being put into the new action and the 4-wicket haul that will give his confidence a new rise. Looks like the old Sunil Narine is back. (Smiles) I think these four wickets are a good motivation and hopefully there are better things to come in the future.

This will help my confidence after coming off a few bad games and not playing some. I needed a performance like this to be able to get back some momentum in the tournament because I haven’t got many wickets in the games that I played. Getting the top four batsmen was good.

It held the team well and the guys followed it up with brilliant batting. Andre Russell and Yusuf Pathan with the bat were terrific and if you look at the game, it was a great team effort. How close are you in getting used to your new action completely? How long does it take?It takes probably a couple of years to get accustomed to the new action.

I am trying my very best hoping that I can continue working hard and I need to allow some time to work on it. I am feeling very different about my body and new action at the moment. I am just getting used to it and it is going to take time.

I am sure as time goes by it is going to be a part of my game. In every practice session I am working hard on it because it is not going to come easily. How mentally draining was it during those tough times and how did you counter them?It is difficult to be watching cricket especially under those circumstances.

But I think the team management and the teammates have backed me really well throughout. It was comforting and I would like to thank them for their support. I discovered that no matter the situation, you always need to back yourself.

You understand that you are climbing up a tall mountain but you need to be patient and wait for your moment to come. When you walk out to bowl, it does play in the back of your mind at times but as a bowler you have to keep that aside and confront it.Keeping all those things into context, this performance should augur well for you, isn’t it? I am happy to be back with a new remodeled action and most importantly happy to be back with some success with it.

I hope I can continue doing that and hopefully things go only up in the future for me. I am taking everything step by step and hopefully I can continue my support with the ball for KKR.You had your little moment with the bat as well, got into a pressure cooker situation in the end there?No pressure at all.

2 balls, one run and you know once you get a little bit of bat on it or some part of your body you are just going to hope for the best and get those runs. I think it was a great team effort and everyone is contributing towards the team’s success. That’s why we are winning more games than we lose.

It is a good position to be in. But we want to win all the rest of the games and be at the top of the table and have a good run at the playoffs. .

Source: http://www.iplt20.com/news/2015/features/6658/russell-and-the-pathan-gayle-admiration