Hyderabad, 03 May (H.S.):

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) star spinner Sunil Narine has become the third bowler and the first overseas player to reach 200 IPL wickets. The West Indian all‑rounder achieved the milestone in Kolkata’s Indian Premier League match against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday.

In that contest, the 37‑year‑old Narine bowled four overs for 31 runs, claiming two wickets. He dismissed SRH batters Ishan Kishan (42) and Salil Arora (2), with the latter being the wicket that took him to the 200‑wicket landmark in the tournament. With this performance, Narine now has 201 IPL wickets in 197 matches, all taken while playing for Kolkata Knight Riders, the only franchise he has represented in the league since joining them in 2012.

Narine joins the elite list of bowlers who have taken 200 or more wickets in the IPL, which includes leg‑spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (228) and pace‑bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar (215). Among overseas players, however, he is the first to cross the 200‑wicket mark, underlining his remarkable consistency and longevity in the shortest format in India.

In the ongoing IPL 2026 season, Narine has already bagged 9 wickets in 8 matches at an average of 23.44 and an economy of 6.80. In the same game against SRH, his spin‑partner Varun Chakaravarthy took 3 wickets, while Kartik Tyagi, Vaibhav Arora, Cameron Green, and Anukul Roy chipped in with one wicket each as KKR bowled out Hyderabad for 165 in 19 overs.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar