Despite being one of the most loved franchises in IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders never meet the heights reached by teams like Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. They have reached the final twice, winning both times but their last IPL title came in 2014. Their last playoffs appearance came in 2018 and they would definitely like to improve on their fifth-place finish in last two IPLs. One common factor in both their triumph was the presence of strong spin attack led by two overseas all-rounders.
Narine joined KKR before the 2012 season when they spent $700,00 on the mystery spinner from West Indies. He immediately delivered with 24 wickets in that season and took KKR to their first IPL Triumph. Even in their winning campaign also Narine was a key player with 21 scalps. Over the years, there were multiple questions raised on his action and he had to gone through multiple remodelling of his action. With time, his impact with ball may have reduced but he improvised to become a destructive batsman at top of the order.
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For three seasons between 2017 to 2019 he and Chris Lynn developed an outstanding opening combination for KKR which had given them some memorable starts. However, his 2020 performance was strictly mediocre, just 64 runs and five wickets in 10 games. Clearly his effectiveness is deteriorating as the opposition found a way to counter him in both departments. Whether he can find his old form back will be a key factor for KKR.
Shakib, on the other hand played for KKR for seven seasons between 2011 to 2017 including both title winnings seasons. His form has gone through ups and downs and with emergence of Andre Russell, he became irregular due to the four overseas quota. But like Narine, he also made quite a few match-winning performances for KKR. Post KKR, he was part of Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018 and 2019 and missed the last IPL due to an ICC suspension.
But on his return, he showed his old touch and got a magical 4/8 in the first ODI against West Indies. KKR made a smart buy in Shakib during the last auction. It looked like a back-up option for Narine. However, as we are nearing the first match of KKR in IPL 2021, the general feeling is that Shakib may get the nod in place of Narine.
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