Sunil Narine has so far scored 482 runs and took 16 wickets in 13 games for KKR in ongoing IPL 2024.

Chennai: Sunil Narine is on the threshold of a unique Indian Premier League record as the Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder needs just 18 runs to become the first-ever player in the history of the tournament to accumulate 500 runs and 15 wickets in a single season. Narine, who redefined himself in IPL 2024 with his batting at the top of the order, has so far scored 482 runs from 13 games at a strike rate of 179.85.

If the former West Indies star manages to cross the 500-run mark, the 35-year-old will become the fourth KKR cricketer after Robin Uthappa, Andre Russell, and Gautam Gambhir in the list. The right-arm slow bowler has bagged 16 wickets at an economy rate of 6.90.

Made to open the innings, the duo of Narine and Phil Salt demolished the opposition in almost all the games and laid a perfect platform for the others to come. In fact, Narine’s maiden T20 century came in KKR colours in the ongoing edition when the southpaw reached three figures against Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens on April 16.

Meanwhile, the two teams met in the first qualifier in which KKR outwitted SRH with clever bowling plans on a massive Motera ground and in Chennai, Iyer’s men will again start as favourites. The last time KKR played an IPL final in Chennai, it was against Chennai Super Kings in 2012 in one of the most epic contests, which established Gambhir’s credentials as an astute leader of men.

If one looks at man-to-man comparison, KKR tick more boxes in terms of overall match-winners with Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, the two Iyers — Shreyas and Venkatesh — the two Ranas — Nitish and Harshit — and spinner Varun Chakravarthy in their ranks.

However, SRH’s uncapped domestic stars like Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy have done really well along with out-of-favour India internationals such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan and Jaydev Unadkat. Any target between 180 to 200 could be a very competitive one if the pressure of playing the final is also factored in.