“It will be difficult to find which ball will go away,” Gautam Gambhir considers Sunil Narine as a threat for batsmen in IPL 2020

Gautam Gambhir considers Sunil Narine: The former KKR captain believes the West Indian all-rounder can make lives difficult for batsmen in IPL 2020.

Former Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir believes that his former opening partner and KKR all-rounder Sunil Narine can be “very successful” in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League provided he gets “little grip” from the wickets in UAE.

“If Sunil Narine gets a little grip from the UAE wickets, he will be very effective. The pace at which Sunil Narine is bowling, Rashid Khan is so successful because of his pace.

“Sunil Narine has been successful when he has bowled quicker, it is a new thing we have seen and this might make him very successful in the IPL,” Gambhir was quoted as saying during Star Sports Cricket Connected show.

It is worth mentioning that both Gambhir and Narine had formed a successful opening pair for Knight Riders back in the day. The bold move to promote Narine to open the batting regularly powered Knight Riders to quickfire starts in the IPL.

Gautam Gambhir considers Sunil Narine as a threat

Narine, who is currently representing Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League, might not be among the highest wicket-takers but his five wickets in four matches coming at an average and strike rate of 15.60 and 4.87 respectively speaks highly about his containing role.

Having changed his action especially while coming in to bowl, Narine hiding the ball is another facet of his bowling which has impressed Gambhir. “For me, the most important thing is that when Sunil Narine is hiding the ball during his run-up, it will increase the difficulties for the batsmen.

“It will be difficult to find which ball will go away and which ball will come in because the later you see the ball in the hand, the more difficult it is for the batsmen,” Gambhir added.

In four T20s in CPL 2020, Narine’s 140 runs as an opening batsman have come at an average and strike rate of 35 and 150.53 respectively. There is no hiding to the fact that KKR would also be hoping for Narine to contribute in the batting department in IPL 2020.