In the West Indies it was never just bowling. It was an identity and part of the culture, perfected a generation ago on the hard baked pitches in the Caribbean.
The names became legends. Marshall, Ambrose, Garner, Holding and Walsh were superstars idolized by the fans and revered by opponents. Their terrorizing pace and deadly accuracy transformed the Windies into a virtually unbeatable international force for well over a decade.
Sunil Narine does not fit the bill. For a start he’s not very tall. Joel Garner, for example, was nicknamed ‘Big Bird’ for a reason. He stood 6-foot-8 in his socks and many of his contemporaries were of a similar build. Narine is a very ordinary 5-foot-10.
Secondly, he’s not very fast. Narine doesn’t come steaming in from close to the boundary edge working up towards a furious delivery stride. He trots in with no more than six paces before releasing the ball. A lot of classy batsmen have tried and failed to work out what happens next.
The young Trinidadian has been a revelation during this season’s Indian Premier League. Narine will turn 24 the day before the IPL Final but he’s prepared to wait for his birthday celebration. My guess is the perfect present would to become an IPL Champion at the first attempt.
Officially he’s a right arm off-break bowler. The rest of us would just call it a gift. Narine’s sublime ability to get the ball to move off the pitch has bamboozled some of the best. The greatest of them all, Sachin Tendulkar, is just one of his 24 victims during a remarkable maiden IPL campaign.
They simply cannot ‘pick him’. The majority of batsmen have little idea what the ball will do once it has bounced. Narine can make it move both ways or simply carry on straight forward. By the time the batter has made up his mind and swung down a chosen line it is often too late to prevent the inevitable.
Kolkata has reaped the rewards. The Knight Riders gambled $700,000 on Narine at the pre-season IPL auction — a lot of money for a young spinner with virtually no experience of Indian wickets. He entered the auction with a base price of just 50,000, but it is safe to say Narine has provided value for money.
He is only cheap when it comes to the cost of his wickets. His impressive haul, which included two more in the qualification playoff victory over the Delhi Daredevils, have come at a league leading average of 11.95. Narine’s economy rate of 5.20 — or less than a run a ball — is astounding in the big hitting world of T20 cricket.
Narine’s rise has been close to meteoric. Evidently too fast for the West Indies who didn’t pick him for the Test series against Australia or the current tour of England. Narine has yet to play at the highest level for his country but is destined to be a star performer at the World T20s later this year.
In the meantime he has one more engagement with the Knight Riders. Sunday’s championship game will be the biggest of Narine’s fledgling career and his trademark mohawk hairstyle will be much in evidence if Kolkata clinches its first IPL title.