In the brief time since an enforced change to his previously suspect action transformed him from average off-spinner into the rarity of mesmerising variety, Sunil Narine has become the most exciting new name in the game.
His each-way turn, unfathomable to even some of the finest batsmen of the day, has been allied to control of subtle changes in length, line, flight and pace.
In the three formats to which he has been so far confined – first-class, One-Day Internationals and Twenty20s – his statistics are remarkable.
He has taken his 34 wickets in six first-class matches (2012 was his first extended season for Trinidad and Tobago) at an average of 11.88 runs apiece and at 2.2 per over.
His eight One-Day Internationals, against India in India and Australia in the Caribbean, have yielded 14 wickets at 20 runs each and 3.79 runs an over.
In 33 Twenty20s, for West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago and most recently the Indian Premier League (IPL) champions, Kolkata Knight Riders, the figures are even more astounding – 46 wickets at a runs-per-over rate of 5.2.
It was in the just ended IPL that his star shone brightest.
He was named Player of the Tournament for his 21 wickets and an economy rate of 5.47, lower than anyone else and a full run below more celebrated and established spinners, the Sri Lankan conjurer Muttiah Muralitheran, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hassan, India’s Ravi Ashwin and New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori.
There was a 5-12 return from his four overs against the Challengers and 4-15 in the playoff match against the Mumbai Indians, among them the great Sachin Tendulkar, embarrassingly confused by an off-break that he chopped back into his stumps. His Knight Riders captain, Gautam Gambhir, India’s quality opener, described Narine as “incredible” and admitted that, even though he has faced him repeatedly in the nets, he still wasn’t able to pick him.
Gambhir was the one who persuaded his franchise, owned by legendary Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, to pay US$700,000 to secure Narine at the IPL auction in January. The decision was swayed on the evidence of the Trinidadian’s magic in last October’s Champions League in India, followed by three ODIs in India in December.
Given Narine’s impact on the Knight Riders’ first IPL championship, it is a fair assumption that his contract will be over US$1 million next season.
For all his success in the shorter versions, Narine this week enters the different world of Test cricket which, even at a time when its future and relevancy is being questioned, he acknowledges as presenting the ultimate test of a cricketer’s credentials. It is an opinion shared by most of his peers.
“My dream was always to play Test cricket,” he said when summoned to England last week to replace the injured fast bowler Kemar Roach and be ready for the final Test at Edgbaston.
It is a goal confirmed by Gambhir last week.
“That is what he wants to do,” he said. “He’s very eager to be a successful Test cricketer and I wish him a very successful career, because Test is all that matters.”
Narine’s dream of Test cricket would almost certainly have come earlier, in the preceding series against Australia in the Caribbean but for the offer from Kolkata that was, simply, too good to be refused by a young cricketer at the start of his career.
It is a conundrum that needs to be urgently addressed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for it is likely to thwart the future Test dreams of Narine and many of his generation, from every country.
Making assumptions by way of hindsight is always futile but it is not fanciful to suggest that Narine would have made the difference between the West Indies winning and losing the first and third Tests against Australia.
The key moments were the 121 bowlers Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus and Nathan Lyon added by the last two wickets in Barbados that carried Australia from 285 for eight, replying to 449, in the first innings and the boisterous 106 by wicket-keeper Matt Wade and the 102 his partners helped him add for the last two wickets in the first innings in Dominica.
In the preceding ODIs, Michael Holding, on TV commentary, declared about the Australians’ troubles against Narine: “They have absolutely no idea where the ball is going.”
He cleaned up the left-handed Wade for 0 (first ball), 3 (10 balls), 2 (11 balls) in the first three ODIs. Would the keeper and the bowlers so prospered in the Tests against Narine?
More than likely not but, as Narine is about to discover, and is sensibly ready for, the demands of the five-day game contrast completely with those of Twenty20s and ODIs.
Batsmen are under no obligation to up the scoring rate. They can bide their time, prepared to play out maidens while waiting for the loose ball to put away. On the other hand, bowlers are not restricted to a certain number of overs or constrained by preset regulations on field placements, as they are in the shorter formats.
What is more, England are strong and confident, proud of their No.1 Test ranking and, as the West Indies discovered in each of their defeats in the first two matches, ruthless in execution.
Narine is not coming with any preconceived notions that he will be his team’s saviour on what will be his first match in England.
“I did well in the West Indies and I did well in India, but the pitches and conditions in England are different, so as a bowler you have to take your time to get ready and prepared,” was how be put it when the call came.
“I don’t want to get ahead of myself and make any predictions. I just want to prepare well, mentally and physically, and give my all for West Indies.”
The West Indies’ original finger-flicking mystery man was also a Trinidadian of East Indian descent, the first of the many who have since helped make West Indies cricket the globally admired entity that it still is.
It was in England in the unforgettable 1950 series that Sonny Ramadhin, an unheralded 20-year-old from the deep south who had never previously journeyed outside his homeland, along with his equally youthful left-arm spin partner from Jamaica, Alf Valentine, became an instant entry into the game’s folklore, immortalized in calypso as “those two little pals of mine, Ramadhin and Valentine”.
That was an age ago, without the distractions of limited-overs cricket and the batting advantages of bats the weight and width of Neanderthal clubs.
Narine bowls his first ball in England this week, his reputation already established and no way the nonentity Ramadhin was 62 years ago. Yet his bag of tricks might just have a similar impact.
