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Follow UsThe Indian Premier League (IPL) is not what it was 15 years ago. In many ways, it has morphed into a completely different sport altogether, even distinguishing itself from T20I cricket.
This competition, particularly in the last 4-5 years, has been evolving at the speed of light. To the extent that it’s comfortably left many players and player-prototypes behind, those who were once regarded ‘invaluable’.
But 12 years after he made his first appearance in the competition, Sunil Narine has managed to keep pace and stay ahead of the curve.
In his maiden IPL season back in 2012, a 23-year-old Narine took the competition by storm and walked away with the Player of the Series award. Back then, Narine was a mystery spinner who was undecodable. He pretty much single-handedly bowled Kolkata Knight Riders to their maiden title.
Fast-forward 12 years. Narine, at the age of 35, is still an undecodable mystery spinner bowling his side to victories game in and game out. Except he’s not just that now.
He is also now a destructive opener that’s scorching bowlers at the top of the order and is winning an ungodly amount of games for his side with the bat.
14 games into KKR’s IPL 2024 campaign, Narine, with the ball, has 15 wickets at an economy of 6.64, and, with the bat, has 461 runs at an average of 38.42 and strike rate of 182.94.
Historically in the IPL, there have been great all-rounders who have complimented a world-class season with the bat with an impactful showing with the ball, and vice-versa. But never before has one player had a world-class season with both bat AND ball like Narine's been having in this campaign.
250 runs and 15+ wickets has generally always been considered an outstanding season for an all-rounder. Before this season, there had been nine instances of players achieving this feat.
However, there had only been two instances of a player doing the double of 400 runs + 15 wickets in the same season: Shane Watson in 2008 and Jacques Kallis in 2012.
Narine in IPL 2024 has not just equalled this feat but is on course to absolutely obliterate the record. The 35-year-old is, as it stands, on track to complete the 500 runs + 20 wickets double, which no player has ever come close to doing and might likely never do.
As is evident from the table above, even in terms of all-rounders who have done the ‘double’, Narine and Watson are in a league of their own — purely due to the impact they’ve had.
Both have averaged over 35, struck at over 150 and have maintained a remarkable economy. The batting numbers of Watson are especially mind-boggling, considering he registered such attacking numbers way back in the very first season of IPL when people still saw T20 cricket as a shortened ODI.
So how far ahead of the pack was Watson, in terms of his impact? And what about Narine in 2024?
Let’s find that out. For this, let’s compare the individual metrics with the overall metrics of the season.
As you can see, Watson in 2008 was truly in a league of his own. He was so far ahead of the league’s overall metrics in every single department, especially with the bat.
He was averaging nearly 23 more than an average batter in the competition while maintaining a strike rate nearly 23 more than the league average. Bonkers. And he was comfortably an above-average bowler, maintaining both a better average and economy rate.
For IPL 2024, here’s what Narine’s batting numbers look like when you compare it with the rest of the league.
Narine’s strike rate being so far ahead of the rest is not a surprise, but that average is certainly eye-catching. For the longest time in IPL, Narine has been seen as a ‘free wicket’; a batter that will either hit out or get out.
However, that’s not been the case this time around. He’s actually been significantly better than the league’s overall average, which includes your anchors as well. And he’s been doing that while striking quicker than 75% of the batters in the league.
This season, among those with 300+ runs, only six have scored quicker than Narine. If you filter it to 400+ runs, only Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have scored quicker than his SR of 182.9.
So, +10 better in terms of average, +31 in terms of SR. Narine is already in the top echelon of batters in IPL 2024.
Now for the craziest part, the ultimate reveal: his impact with the ball.
In a season in which bowlers have been pretty much reduced to bowling machines, Narine has been a clear standout, with his bowling average blowing the overall league average out of the water.
But it’s the economy comparison that’s truly astonishing. On average this season, Narine, in every over, has conceded nearly three fewer runs than an average bowler.
Which is, if a normal ‘bowler A’ had bowled the 47 overs Narine has this season, then KKR would have conceded a whopping 133 more runs than what they actually have.
Yes, you read that right. A total of 37 bowlers have bowled 30+ overs in IPL 2024, and among them, Jasprit Bumrah (6.5) and Narine (6.6) are the *only ones* to have an economy under 7.5.
Now, imagine if Bumrah with the bat had also posted the kind of numbers Sanju Samson has. Yeah, that is basically what Narine has done in 2024.
Practically, it is pretty difficult to compare Narine’s 2024 with Watson’s 2008 because you’re essentially comparing eras. You can’t possibly account for the inflation in runs. And let’s not even get into the impact player part. It’d hence not be fair or accurate to say Narine’s 2024 has already surpassed Watson’s 2008, though the numbers tend to suggest so.
However, what we can say with conviction is that we’re witnessing one of the greatest individual showings by a player ever in this competition’s history.
There have been seasons where individuals have been on a different planet to the rest of the field in a single facet (Chris Gayle 2011, Virat Kohli 2016 or even Narine 2012 come to mind) but never in IPL history have we seen a carry-job with both bat and ball like what Narine’s been doing this season. The numbers back this up.
Watson 2008 has remained the benchmark for the longest time, but it feels like it’s almost inevitable that, from next season, Narine 2024 will start being seen as the new gold standard for all-rounders.
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