Gambhir: I knew Narine is going to go hard at the bowlers and score runs at will

Sunil Narine the spinner has always been a vital gear in the Kolkata arsenal, having picked 87 wickets over six seasons. Last night, after being promoted to the opening slot for the first time in the IPL, Narine scored a swashbuckling 18-ball 37 against Kings XI Punjab, showing a side of his game that no one saw coming. The man, who was at the forefront of the plan, Gautam Gambhir, expressed that Narine has always had it in him and his batting capability has largely been underestimated so far. 

Speaking to IPLT20.com, Gambhir said, "A lot of them underestimate Sunil's batting prowess. Having Sunil in the side is always a luxury with his quality of bowling and as someone who can hit the big ball."

It was not the first time that the ace off-spinner had opened an innings in a T20 match. Earlier this year, in the Big Bash League, he had opened for Melbourne Renegades. Yesterday, his pyrotechnics propelled KKR to their best-ever powerplay score in this edition of the tournament. After watching the carnage from the best seat, Gambhir lauded the exceptional effort and humoured that he needed to steal a few tips from Narine. 

"With Narine on the other side, I knew there was someone who is going to go hard at the bowlers and score runs at will, that too, at each and every delivery," Gambhir said. "Some of the batsmen should be really proud of the way he batted. Look at some of the shots he played; I need to take tips from Narine to hit big sixes."

"If it keeps working, we will see Narine at the top," Gambhir said. "When he bats at No.8, he hardly gets any deliveries to bat with just some tail-enders left. If this move does work well going forward, it is going to be a great advantage for us. We have a batting line-up that boasts of hitting the big ball and are attacking players. With Sunil going all guns blazing, it just lengthens our batting line-up.”