Sunil Narine reached 200 wickets for a single franchise and led Kolkata Knight Riders to a win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, finishing with 2 for 31 in four overs on Sunday.
Narine removed Salil Arora to cross the mark and now has 201 wickets for KKR. He also joined the group of bowlers with 200 IPL wickets overall, alongside Yuzvendra Chahal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He became the first overseas bowler to reach that mark.
He has played for KKR since 2012. He struck early in his IPL career, taking 24 wickets in his debut season and 20-plus in the next two. He led the wicket charts across the 2012 to 2014 period with 67 wickets and an economy rate of 5.77.
His wicket numbers dipped after 2014. He did not cross 20 wickets in any season since. He took 85 wickets in 100 innings between 2015 and 2022, with a strike rate above 27 balls per wicket. He improved that rate to around 22 balls per wicket in recent seasons.
He has kept control across phases. Among bowlers with 300 overs, he holds the best economy rate in IPL history. Since 2015, he has gone at 7.13, the best among those with 200 overs in that period.
He has delivered at least three overs in 189 of his 194 innings. He has conceded a run a ball or less in 82 of those innings and stayed under eight per over in 141. He has gone above ten per over only 14 times.
He has dominated the middle overs. Between overs seven and 16, he has an economy rate of 6.44, the best among bowlers with 100 overs in that phase. He has also delivered in the powerplay at 6.9 and taken 62 wickets at the death at an economy of 7.97.
He has kept leading batters quiet. Rohit Sharma has fallen to him eight times in 137 balls. AB de Villiers averages 13.25 against him, while Virat Kohli has scored 136 from 129 balls with four dismissals. MS Dhoni has a strike rate of 51.94 against him.
KKR used him again as a control bowler against SRH. He slowed the game and forced mistakes. The milestone reflects both longevity and sustained control across 15 seasons.
