Xtra Time Web Desk: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mystery bowler Sunil Narine almost decided to quit the game had his father not stopped him from doing so. In an interview to www.kkr.in the Trinidadian spinner shared the impact his father had on his game. Narine came as a mystery spinner in the KKR fold back in 2012 and has been there with the team ever since. His explosive batting earned him the opening slot in the ranks and soon he started making headlines for his all-round skills.
As a young cricketer Narine didn’t look at cricket much. He was more outside playing with friends and family. So, he didn’t follow the game as much, because as a young boy from where he comes from he didn’t really think about representing West Indies. So he wasn’t keen on watching much cricket, he was more keen on playing cricket outside and enjoy my childhood days.
He would often go to school and after that, tried to leave his bag at the Oval instead of travelling with it because it was tough. After school he went to training and then go back home, so sometimes he reached home after 8-9 in the night and then you do it again the next day. It was tough but that made the person he is today. Once he was in cricket, Lara was the only guy he supported, because he loved batting and batting is something he always enjoyed and he still enjoys it. For Narine bowling came second. He always put more focus on batting and at age 18-19, bowling took over. So he started batting less, which probably didn’t help but at the end of the day, it happened. And I wouldn’t have it the other way.
Probably around 2009-10, he was going to stop playing hard-ball cricket because it was tough making the Trinidad team. So, it was like there is no possible way that he could probably make Trinidad but he (Sunil’s father Shahid Narine) was like ‘No, don’t give up so early. You remind me of all the days we travelled to the Oval, all the hard work we put in.’ He was like, ‘don’t worry, opportunity will come. Just relax, believe that it will happen and it will.’
Honestly, it was probably the best thing Narine’s dad could say because genuinely he was going to stop! Narine is thankful to his dad for saying those things and being the father that he was. He never gave up on him, when he was about to give up on himself.
When his father passed away, Narine made a pledge that he was going to try and do more with the bat because he always said that he can bat and he always wanted me to show that he can bat. So, on his passing, Narine made a pledge that he is going to give it his all for the next two years and see where it goes and it’s working for me at the moment and it’s keeping him in the game whether with bat or bowl.