Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) veteran Sunil Narine has emerged as an unexpected candidate for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Orange Cap for most runs after his whirlwind knock of 109 runs against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday.
Narine, backed to feature as an opener by the KKR management, took control of his franchise’s innings in the 56-ball knock with 13 boundaries and six sixes. In the process, he rose to the third spot in the list of most run-scorers in the ongoing season behind former Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Virat Kohli and RR dasher Riyan Parag.
IPL 2024: Orange Cap List
| No. | Player | M | Ins | NO | Runs | HS | Avg | BF | SR | 100/50 | 4s/6s |
| 1 | Virat Kohli | 6 | 6 | 2 | 361 | 113* | 72.20 | 245 | 147.34 | 1/2 | 35/14 |
| 2 | Riyan Parag | 7 | 7 | 2 | 318 | 84* | 63.60 | 197 | 161.42 | 0/3 | 22/20 |
| 3 | Sunil Narine | 6 | 6 | 0 | 276 | 109 | 46.00 | 147 | 187.75 | 1/1 | 26/20 |
| 4 | Sanju Samson | 7 | 7 | 2 | 276 | 82* | 55.20 | 178 | 155.06 | 0/3 | 27/11 |
| 5 | Rohit Sharma | 6 | 6 | 1 | 261 | 105* | 52.20 | 156 | 167.30 | 1/0 | 28/15 |
The West Indies mystery spinner has batted at an average of 46 in the ongoing season. He has the best strike rate of 187.75 among the top five most runs scorer this season with one century and a half-century to his name. The KKR player has hit a stunning 20 sixes and 26 boundaries in the ongoing season.
“(At the start of the season if anyone had told him he’d be in the race for the Orange cap) I would have taken it as a joke because I haven’t opened in such a long time or did much with the bat in the years past,” Narine said in the mid-game break.
“(Opening this year) With GG (Gambhir) coming back, he gave me the confidence and his assurance that I’ll open the batting. The job is just to go out there and try to give a good start, whatever the situation is, still keep going because if you try to face dot balls in the powerplay, it could hurt you in the backend. So just go there and try to give your team a good start,” he added.