Sunil Narine almost indispensable, no back up for him: Gambhir

Sunil Narine has developed himself as Indian Premier League's best bowler from the very moment he started playing for Gautam Gambhir's side in 2012. His meticulous performances in KKR colours have resulted in his side ending up with the IPL championship twice in three years. Geared up for the third IPL title, both Gambhir and Narine will play a very crucial role for the team but Gambhir believes that that there can be no back-up for the West Indian mystery spinner.

Clarifying the issue relating to the action of Sunil Narine he said, "He's an integral part of KKR, he will always be an integral part... Even if he bowls a straight ball, he will be an asset for us and will always remain an asset. That's the confidence we have in Sunil (Narine). We never thought that we needed a back-up spinner for him. There can never be a backup for Sunil. I always maintain even if he bowls a straight bowl it will be an advantage. That's the aura he has had over the opposition over the last three years."

Narine had been under the scanner for being reported for a suspect action in last season's Champions League T20 and he had to miss the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup. But a more determined Sunil went back to the nets to rework his action and was given clearance by International Cricket Council (ICC) after his bio-mechanical test in Loughborough. Thereafter, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), took a retest at the Sri Ramachandra University in Chennai. Finally, he got a clean chit and was given the green signal to bowl on Sunday, three days before the start of IPL.

One other interesting equation emerged when KKR had undergone with their 2.4 crore acquisition of KC Cariappa, another mystery spinner, who has not, very surprisingly, played even a single Ranji Trophy match. Gambhir said, "We have never picked him thinking that he will be a match-winner for us. We wanted to groom and develop him alongside Sunil for the betterment of Indian cricket. He's young as well. He'll learn a lot from Sunil. I am yet to see him in a match so I don't know whether he would be a game changer. But obviously he's different. We will see over the course of time, how he shapes up along with Kuldeep Yadav. Hopefully, they will play a big role".

Elaborating on the analogy of the team, Gambhir described, "The strategy to pick little known players like KC Cariappa and Kuldeep Yadav was to groom them alongside senior pros like Narine and Brad Hogg. They were never for back-up. Yes, we want different spinners, and we have based out the entire team on that because if you see most of the wickets in India turn and start gripping especially in the later half of the tournament. That's the strategy.”

He further added, "At the same time it would be nice to have spinners who can always complement Sunil. (For) someone like Cariappa, Suryakumar Yadav and Kuldeep Yadav to have Sunil and Brad Hogg around them, will always help. It will help develop Indian cricket. People and commentators talk a lot about the franchises- how it's about walking the talk and we have done that. We don't want people to talk about us, we would rather show it for the better of Indian cricket. I think we have done that pretty well over the last few years and we'll continue to do that. It's about developing off the field as well".

With a seemingly perfect squad full of energetic, young and experienced cricketers, KKR appears to be a front runner this time too.