On the heels of Sunil Narine's stunning century for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against Rajasthan Royals in their top-of-the-table Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at Eden Gardens on Tuesday, West Indies Twenty/20 international (T20I) skipper Rovman Powell has expressed the desire for the allrounder's return to the regional team.
Narine, who has been entrusted with opening the batting in the ongoing IPL season, scored a brilliant 109 off 56 balls as he notched his maiden century in the T20 format. The 35-year-old Narine hit 13 fours and six sixes in his innings as he pushed KKR to a competitive score of 223 for six. Narine got to his century in the 16th over of the KKR innings when he drilled leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for two fours and two sixes to get to the landmark off 49 balls. In the process, the left-hander became the third KKR player to score an IPL century, following in the footsteps of Brendon McCullum and Venkatesh Iyer.
Narine's century wasn't enough to get the KKR team over the line, though, as Rajasthan's Jos Buttler equalled his effort with a sublime 107 not out of 60 balls to see the league-leaders home off the very last ball of the contest with two wickets to spare. Narine grabbed figures of two for 30 as he tried to restrict Rajasthan's big-hitting, accounting for the big scalp of Powell (26 off 13 balls) in the process.
Powell struck Narine for two sixes and a four in the 17th over of Rajasthan's chase, before he eventually fell to the wily off-spinner in the same over.
After the game, the West Indies skipper opened up on the attempts he has made to welcome Narine back into the Caribbean team's T20I setup ahead of the June 1-29, 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup, co-hosted by the West Indies. Though he played his last T20I for the Windies in August 2019, Narine only confirmed his retirement from the international game last November.
"For the last 12 months, I've been whispering in Narine's ears, but he's blocked out everyone," Powell said, in an ESPN Cricinfo article.
"I've asked Kieron Pollard, (Dwayne) Bravo and Nicholas Pooran. Hopefully, before they select the team, they can crack his code."
After KKR's IPL win against the Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday, Narine was asked about the possibility of returning to the West Indies team by IPL commentator and former WI teammate Samuel Badree.
At the time, Narine said, "I will be watching from home, Badree."
After blazing the ball to all parts on Tuesday, though, Narine appeared to soften his position when he was asked about the likelihood of reversing his retirement decision.
Narine said, "It is what it is, but we'll have to see what the future holds."
[caption id="attachment_1077607" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Kolkata Knight Riders' Sunil Narine celebrates scoring a century during the Indian Premier League against Rajasthan Royals in Kolkata, India, Tuesday. - AP[/caption]
The 2012 T20 World Cup winner has been in sparkling form with the bat for KKR this season, and his ton took him up to 276 ru
