With the aid of 13 fours and 6 sixes, Sunil Narine scored an incredible 109 off 56 balls.
Sunil Narine, an all-rounder with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), has been causing chaos with the bat in the present Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024). In Match 31 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, the southpaw maintained his incredible form against the Rajasthan Royals, reaching his first IPL hundred off just 49 balls.
Unusually for him, the southpaw scored a run a ball on his first 12 deliveries to begin the innings. In the penultimate over of the powerplay, he eventually broke loose, clobbering Kuldeep Sen for consecutive maximums and a boundary to round off the powerplay on a high note. Narine’s rhythm was aided by the boundaries, as he quickly reached his half-century in just 29 balls by hitting Ravichandran Ashwin over the head for a maximum.
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The home audience received more than their money’s worth as their triumphant roars filled the stadium and Narine’s mayhem had them on the edge of their seats. The southpaw and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (30 off 18) shared a vital 85-run stand off only 43 balls for the second wicket.
In his third over, Narine once again outclassed Ashwin, hitting him for a six and two boundaries while the off-spinner attempted, in vain, to stem the flow. While batting for 79, the 35-year-old even spared Yuzvendra Chahal, the purple cap holder of the season, in his final over, hitting him for 6, 4, 6, 4 to get his century.
KKR scores 223/6 in the opening over.
Trent Boult ended Narine’s incredible effort in the 18th over, taking him for 109 off 56 balls by smashing his stumps. With 13 fours and 6 sixes in his innings, the southpaw became the third batsman for the Kolkata Knight Riders to reach 100 runs.
After being dismissed, Rinku Singh provided the ideal ending to the innings with a rapid cameo of 20* (9) that enabled KKR to achieve an incredible 223/6 in the 20 overs that were allocated to them.
