Narine pleased with IPL performance

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad,  CMC-West Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine says he is pleased with his performance for Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2013 Indian Premier League season which climaxed last weekend.

Narine finished sixth on the list of wicket-takers with 22, behind countryman Dwayne Bravo of Chennai Super Kings (32), Australia’s James Faulkner of Rajasthan Royals (28), the Mumbai Indians pair of Harbhajan Singh and Australia’s Mitchell Johnson (24) and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Vinay Kumar (23).

His best figures were four wickets for 13 runs, with an average of 15.90, an economy rate of 5.46 and a strike rate of 17.4.

“It was good coming out on top in the wickets again. The team didn’t do as we wanted to but, saying that, that’s how cricket goes,” said Narine.

Sunil Narine
Sunil Narine

“So I think they just need to think about what they’re doing and hopefully next time (they’ll) have a better showing in the IPL.”

However it was not a good season overall for Kolkata, the 2012 winners as they finished seventh in the nine-team group with 12 points from 16 games including six victories.

Narine is joining the West Indies team in Cardiff, Wales for a pre- Champions Trophy camp, ahead of the June 6-23 tournament in the United Kingdom.

“I’m keen to do well because I didn’t have a good showing (in England) last year,” said Narine.
“I’m keen on hopefully continuing the form from IPL so I can go out there and give a better performance of myself.”

The 24-year old Trinidadian cricketer was chosen as one of the six franchise players for the inaugural Caribbean Premier League, from July 30 to August 24, along with Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Marlon Samuels, Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy.

“I think it’s a good honour being a franchise player,” said Narine who will be representing the Guyana franchise.

“Hopefully I can do a lot of good for Guyana, and continuing playing good cricket.