Gray likens Narine to Chanderpaul

Top T&T spinner Sunil Narine has been likened to veteran batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul by former West Indies pacer Anthony Gray. Gray made the comments last night on WinTv’s Monday night cricket show. He said it was no surprise to him that Narine is reaping the success he has been getting, as his work ethic has always been tremendous. “Sunil is the Shivnarine Chanderpaul with the ball. I have noticed his movements for quite a while and his attitude reminds me of Chanderpaul.” He added that Narine lives cricket since all he wants to do is play cricket. “If you give Sunil a chance he would play cricket all day and night. The man has a big appetite for the game.” Gray was Narine’s coach early in his career and said he strongly believes that Narine will feature in the upcoming Test series against Australia in the Caribbean. “I think Narine will feature in the upcoming Test series against Australia. He has proven he is a world class performer and needs to be representing the West Indies on the big stage.”

 

Meanwhile, Narine said his mystery ball called the ‘knuckle ball’ was developed while he was playing windball cricket. “I used the knuckle ball alot while playing windball cricket and my dad told me to try it out with the hard ball. “I tried it in the nets and it came out all right. This gave me the confidence to work harder on the ball and I am pretty comfortable with it right now.” Looking forward to the Indian Premier League (IPL) in which he was able to fetch a price of US$700,000 to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders, Narine said: “I am looking forward to playing in the IPL. I know I will be coming up against really big time players and those who can play spin very well but I am comfortable with my game and looking forward to doing well.” The Arima resident said he intends to keep his game simple and don’t chance many things when he goes to IPL.  “I am not going to change much with my bowling. At this point it is working for me and I am going to the IPL with my current strategy. According to how things are going, I will then look to make the necessary changes.”