The West Indies T20I captain Rovman Powell has revealed that he has been trying to urge Sunil Narine to come out of international retirement for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 but the spin-bowling allrounder has "blocked out everyone".
"For the last 12 months, I've been whispering in his (Narine's) ears, but he's blocked out everyone. I've asked (Kieron) Pollard, (Dwayne) Bravo, (Nicholas) Pooran. Hopefully, before they select the team, they can crack his code," Rovman Powell said after the game against Kolkata on Tuesday.
Narine has displayed some serious form, especially with the willow in hand. The southpaw scored a whirlwind fifty (85 runs off 39 balls) against Delhi Capitals (DC) in the 16th game of the ongoing IPL 2024 season. He impressed yet again on Tuesday (April 16) when he smashed a quick-fire century (109 runs off 56 balls) to help Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) post 223 while batting first.
However, Narine remains tight-lipped on his decision regarding a potential comeback to international cricket.
"It is what it is, but let's see what the future holds," Narine told after the game when asked whether he'd reconsider his international retirement.
Notably, Narine has not bagged a cluster of wickets in the ongoing season but has been able to keep the opposition batters quiet. The mystery spinner has conceded runs at a praiseworthy economy rate of just 6.87 and bagged seven wickets in six games.
The 35-year-old West Indian is the joint-leading wicket-taker for Kolkata Knight Riders in the season alongside Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora. The veteran allrounder from the Caribbean was impactful with the ball in hand as well against Rajasthan Royals (RR) while playing at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
He bagged the crucial wickets of Rovman Powell and Dhruv Jurel to create roadblocks in Rajasthan's run chase but didn't get enough support from his fellow bowlers.
