Gautam Gambhir revealed a strange request from Sunil Narine in IPL 2012 when the West Indies star player asked if he could bring his girlfriend to the tournament. Gambhir captained the team when Kolkata Knight Riders won the title in 2012 and 2014. When Kolkata became the champion in 2024, Gambhir was associated with the franchise as a mentor, while Narayan is currently associated with the franchise as a player. Under Gambhir, Narayan opened the innings for Kolkata this season and made his mark. At the same time, he also performed well with the bat.

Gambhir said, “Narayan and I are similar characters and our emotions are also similar. I still remember when Naryan first came to IPL in 2012, he was in Jaipur and we were going for practice, and I asked him to join us for lunch. He was so shy that he didn't say a single word during lunch and finally the first question he asked was, can I bring my girlfriend to IPL?”

He further added, “In the first season, he was very quiet, but now, we can talk about anything. He is like a brother to me. I don't see him as a friend, I don't see him as a teammate, I see him as a brother. If I need him or he needs me, I feel we are just a call away, that's the kind of relationship we have built. We don't get too excited, we don't show too much emotion, we are not flamboyant, we just work and come back.”

Narayan played 14 matches in IPL 2024 and scored 488 runs with the help of a brilliant strike rate of 180.74. During this, one century and 3 half-centuries have been seen from his bat. While bowling, he has managed to take 17 wickets with the help of an excellent economy rate of 6.69. Due to this brilliant season, Narayan was awarded the MVP award for the third time in the history of the league.