KKR’s Narine is joint third-highest wicket-taker in IPL, at par with Bhuvneshwar

MULLANPUR(Punjab): Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) icon Sunil Narine has levelled with pacer Bhuvneswar Kumar, becoming the third-highest wicket-taker in Indian Premier League (IPL).

Narine made this upward movement in charts during the IPL clash against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Mullanpur on Tuesday.

During the match, Narine was lethal, taking 2/14 in three overs, getting wickets of Suryansh Shedge and Marco Jansen in a low-scoring first innings for PBKS after they opted to bat first.

In 183 matches, Narine has 187 wickets at an average of 25.26, with best figures of 5/19. His best bowling figures are 5/19. He has taken a five-wicket haul and seven four-wicket hauls in IPL.

Leading wicket-takers in the IPL are: Yuzvendra Chahal (207 wickets in 166 matches) and Piyush Chawla (192 wickets in 192 matches).
Also, Narine’s 36 wickets against Punjab Kings are the highest by a bowler against any team in the IPL, outdoing Umesh Yadav (35 against Punjab Kings).

Coming to the match, PBKS won the toss and opted to bat first. Priyansh Arya (22 in 12 balls, with three fours and a six) and Prabhsimran Singh (30 in 15 balls, with two fours and three sixes) delivered a fiery start to PBKS with a 39-run stand. However, a powerplay spell by Harshit Rana (3/25) and some fantastic fielding from Ramandeep Singh pushed them to 54/4 at the end of the powerplay. Narine (2/14) and Varun Chakravarthy (2/21) dominated the later stages of the innings, not letting PBKS batters settle, bundling them out for 111 in 15.3 overs.

Now, KKR needs to chase down 112 runs to secure the fourth win of the competition in seven games. (ANI)