Kolkata: Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir described Sunil Narine as the best bowler of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) and said that when he made his ODI debut against India in 2011, he had an idea. That this West Indies player will become a great cricketer of T20 cricket. Former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain and now the team mentor, Gambhir revealed that it was only after watching Narine play in his debut series in 2011 that he decided to include the West Indies player for the IPL.

“I must have faced seven or eight balls and I thought this guy is going to be one of the great cricketers of the game, especially in T20 cricket,” Gambhir said in the ‘KKR Knights Duggath Podcast’. ” He said, “Look where Sunil Narayan is now? Perhaps he is the greatest bowler in IPL history. ” Narayan has taken 170 wickets in his IPL career and has so far scored 1322 runs including one century in 168 matches in the league. Narayan made his ODI debut against India in the third ODI in Ahmedabad in December 2011, in which he took two wickets for 34 runs, dismissing Virat Kohli and R Ashwin. Gambhir faced Narayan’s balls for the first time in the fourth ODI. However, Narayan could not take any wicket giving 46 runs in six overs. But Gambhir felt that this Trinidadian player would become a great bowler in IPL 2012.

In 2012, Narayan emerged as the mystery bowler of KKR and with 24 wickets became the second best bowler after Morne Morkel’s 25 wickets. With this, KKR team was successful in winning its first IPL title in 2012. KKR won the title for the second time in 2014, in which Narayan was their second best wicket taker with 21 wickets. Gambhir then saw Narayan’s batting ability and made him open the innings for KKR. Narayan was quite successful with the bat but maintained his hold on the ball as well. After playing the same role with Lucknow Super Giants in the last two seasons, Gambhir said his mantra for KKR this season is to remain courageous. Gambhir said, “I believe that the most talented teams do not win big tournaments. Rather, only the most courageous team will win the IPL, which will be ready to fight till the end. The mantra of this session is that we need to remain fearless. ,

He said, “We must have the courage to remain positive all the time. And if you follow this path, I am very excited to see the kind of talent that we have in dressing. If we fight, stay courageous, I think we will be in good shape.” Gambhir recalled team owner Shahrukh Khan’s support during his poor form in 2014. He told that Shahrukh had told him, “As long as you are here, you will not give up.” These words became inspirational words for Gambhir and he won the title in 2014.

Gambhir said, “I could not score a single run in four matches. I have said many times that I think he is the best boss I have ever worked with. It is not that I am now a part of KKR or was a part of it, that is why I am saying this.” He said, “I don’t think that in the seven years of captaincy of KKR, we have talked about cricket even for seven minutes. Just when I was going through a bad phase, this was discussed.” Gambhir said, “At that time also we had talked because I myself was feeling very disappointed. That’s when he told me that as long as you’re here, you won’t give up.” He said, “Imagine a team owner who is about to achieve such a big feat, not even once asking about cricket or your decisions. I am not saying that I made all the right decisions. But he never questioned my decisions. He had so much confidence in me. ,