21 Interesting Facts About Sunil Narine

Sunil Narine is a mystery spinner, who has played all three formats for West Indies. Sunil’s variations in off-spin make him different from other off-spinners in the world. It’s very hard for batsmen to read his deliveries. Generally, West Indies is prominent for introducing lanky fast bowlers but Sunil Narine has been exceptional. On the bout of his 33rd birthday, let’s talk about some interesting facts about Sunil Narine.

Interesting Facts About Sunil Narine

1. Sunil Narine was born on 26th May 1988 in Arima, Trinidad & Tobago to father Shaheed Narine and mother Christina Narine. 

2. Sunil is named after famous Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar, as his father Shaheed was fond of legendary Gavaskar’s batting. 

3. Trinidadian all-rounder Kevon Cooper was his classmate in his school. Kevon was eager about football but it was his good friend Narine because of him he developed an interest in cricket. 

4. Narine made his first appearance in first-class cricket in 2009 for Trinidad & Tobago in a 4-days match. But he didn’t have a great start to his first-class career, taking 1 wicket in his first match. 

5. Some of Sunil’s best deliveries are Carrom ball, Skidder, and Knuckle pushed delivery, which has baffled the best players in the world. He hides the ball before the delivery to make it difficult for the batsmen.

6. Sunil was the 2nd highest wicket-taker in his first Champions League T20 playing for Trinidad & Tobago in 2011 with 10 wickets in 6 matches with the best average in the tournament (10.50). He even had the best economy in the series, 4.37. 

7. He made his List A debut for Trinidad & Tobago in 2011 in West Indies Cricket Board’s one-day tournament, Regional Super50. He became the highest wicket-taker with 15 scalps. 
8. Sunil Narine is the leading wicket-taker in the Champions League T20 history with 39 wickets in 20 matches. 

9. Narine made his international debut against India in 2011 in an ODI match in Ahmedabad. He returned with 2/34 in his first match. Narine played 65 matches from 2011 to 2016 and grabbed 92 wickets with a decent average of 26.46. Batting ace Virat Kohli was his first international wicket. 

10. The magician played his first T20I against Australia in 2012 in St.Lucia. He bowled an economical spell in the match, conceding 21 runs in 4 overs. Till now, Narine has represented West Indies in 51 matches and taken 52 wickets. Narine has the 2nd best economy in T20 internationals, 6.01. 

11. Sunil made his test debut in 2012 against England at Edgebaston Stadium. But he went wicket-less in that match. Test cricket is all about bowling on-seam due to the longevity of the red ball. So he has not played so many tests as he bowls on cross-seam often. He has 21 scalps in 6 matches in tests. 

12. Sunil Narine got the ICC Emerging Player of the Year award in 2012. 

13. The spin wizard from Trinidad & Tobago became the No 1 T20 bowler in the ICC ranking in 2014. 

14. In 2012, KKR bought Sunil for a whopping amount of $700000. He was the player of the tournament with 24 wickets in that season, helping his side wear the crown of IPL. 

15. Sunil won the MPV award for the 2nd time in the 2018 IPL. He took 17 wickets along with 357 runs in 16 matches. 

16. He has played more than 355 T20 matches and bagged 393 wickets with an incredible economy of 5.91. 

17. Narine is a very important asset for T20 cricket. He has played in almost all the T20 leagues across the world. So far he has played IPL (Kolkata Knight Riders), BBL (Sydney Sixers & Melbourne Renegades), CPL (Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago knight Riders), BPL (Comilla Victorians, Barisal Burners, and Dhaka Dynamites), PSL (Lahore Qalandars & Quetta Gladiators), and Global T20 Canada (Montreal Tigers). 

18. Sunil Narine is the only bowler in T20 cricket history to bowl a maiden in a super over, he achieved the feat against a CPL match in 2014 against Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel. Steel opener Nicholas Pooran couldn’t read his single ball. 

19. Sunil’s wife’s name is Nandita Kumar, they got married following Indian wedding rituals in 2013. 

20. Narine has been accused of chucking many times so far in his career but he has amended it every time and made a comeback. In the 2014 Champions League T20 final, he missed the match due to suspected bowling action. ICC banned him from bowling him in internationals in 2015 as he bent his more than 15 degrees. Later in 2016, he rectified it.

21. Narine has taken 3rd most number of wickets in terms of stumping in T20I, 12 wickets. 

22. Sunil Narine’s estimated net worth Is $15 million.

Sunil Narine Career Stats

Format	Matches	Runs	Wickets	Bowling average	Batting strike-rate	BBF	Best score	5-wickets
ODI	65	363	92	26.46	82.31	6/27	36	2
Test	6	40	21	40.52	78.50	6/91	22*	2
T20I	51	155	52	21.25	112.31	4/12	30	0
T20	355	393	2516	20.92	146.10	5/19	79	1