Sunil Narine

Man-of-the-Match Gayle, 41, scored a 29-ball 51 in a second-wicket stand of 100 from just 60 balls with Mandeep Singh, who top scored with an unbeaten 66 as KXIP ran out eight-wicket victors.

Gayle took 17 runs off Narine’s bowling ithat included two of his five sixes that were creamed over wide long off the Trinidadian in the 11^th and 13^th over, respectively. The Universe Boss just failed to remain unbeaten getting out from a slower ball from Lockie Ferguson in the 19^th over with KXIP just three runs short of their target.

Narine, meanwhile, went wicketless while conceding 27 from his four overs.

Gayle said it was great to get one up against one of the best T20 bowlers in the world.

“Sunil has got me out so many times. He is the best spinner in the world. So when you get a wicket like this, when it is not turning much, you got to cash in,” Gayle said even as he praised the match-winning knock from Mandeep, who is mourning the loss of his father.

“Mandeep is going through a lot. Last game we said we want to win it for him. So beautiful to watch him in the middle pointing out to his father watching from above. And dad, my dad, I love you. Today, the coach asked the senior players, we need to step up in crucial games, I am glad we were able to put my hand up. And the youngsters in the team are telling me, 'Don't retire.'"

Gayle’s form has been on the upswing since he made his season debut for KXIP after missing out on playing during the first half of the season, partly due to a case of food poisoning that resulted in him being briefly hospitalized.

"Been training off the field when not playing. Doing my runs. Gym. Feeling good,” said Gayle, who is also optimistic about his team finishing the season well after their fifth win on the trot.

“Have a good feeling about myself and the team. Just capitalizing on it, but still a long way to go."

The 42-year-old will be returning to Barishal having last represented the Rangpur Riders in 2018.  The stint will be the left-handers third at the franchise who were called the Barishal Burners when he began taking part in the competition in 2012.  Gayle also played for the franchise in 2015 when they were known as the Bulls.  He represented the Chittagong Vikings at the 2016 edition.

The veteran batsman will be joined at the franchise by Shakib Al Hasan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and compatriot, pace bowler Alzarri Joseph.

In the meantime, spinner Sunil Narine will suit up for Cumilla Victorians alongside pace bowler O’Shane Thomas, while the trio of Kennar Lewis, Chadwick Walton, and Rayad Emrit will represent the Chattogram Challengers.

Pace bowler Kesrick Williams will represent the Sylhet Sunrisers.

The competition will take place between Jan 21 – Feb 18.

 Full BPL squads

Khulna Tigers: Mushfiqur Rahim, Thisara Perera, Naveen Ul Huq, Bhanuka Rajapakse, Soumya Sarkar, Seekugge Prasanna, Sikandar Raza, Farhad Reza, Rony Talukdar, Khaled Ahmed, Jaker Ali Anik, Nabil Samad

Chattogram Challengers: Nasum Ahmed, Benny Howell, Kennar Lewis, Afif Hossain, Chadwick Walton, Rayad Emrit, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Rejaur Rahman, Sabbir Rahman, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Akbar Ali, Naeem Islam,

Dhaka: Mahmudullah, Tamim Iqbal, Rubel Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Shahzad, Mohammad Naim, Arafat Sunny, Imranuzzaman, Shafiul Islam, Jahurul Islam, Shamsur Rahman, Ebadat Hossain. 

Fortune Barishal: Shakib Al Hasan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Danushka Gunathilaka, Chris Gayle, Nurul Hasan, Obed McCoy, Alzarri Joseph, Towhid Hridoy, Ziaur Rahman, Shafiqul Islam, Saikat Ali, Niroshan Dickwella, Nayeem Hasan, Taijul Islam, Sarwar Hossain, Irfan Sukkur,

Cumilla Victorians: Mustafizur Rahman, Faf du Plessis, Sunil Narine, Moeen Ali, Liton Das, Shohidul Islam, Kusal Mendis, Oshane Thomas, Ariful Haque, Nahidul Islam, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Sumon Khan, Mominul Haque, Mahidul Islam, Parvez Hossain, Abu Hider

Sylhet Sunrisers: Taskin Ahmed, Dinesh Chandimal, Kesrick Williams, Colin Alexander, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Mithun, Ravi Bopara, Angelo Perera, Anamul Haque, Sohag Gazi, Alok Kapali, Muktar Ali, Siraj Ahmed, Mizanur Rahman, Nadif Chowdhury, Jubair Hossain, Shafiul Hayat, Sunzamul Islam

Barbados Royals, captained by Rovman Powell, won the toss and opted to field first, and it seemed a good decision, as they initially had Trinbago Knight Riders at 69-2 inside 10 overs, before a fantastic 108-run third wicket stand between Martin Guptill and captain Kieron Pollard fired the Knight Riders to their daunting total of 194-5.

Guptill, whose last half-century in the CPL was back in 2018 against the Tallawahs, came good on the night with a 58-ball unbeaten century, while Pollard contributed 46 off 32 balls. Jason Holder was the pick of the Royals bowling with 2-39 from his four overs.

The Royals's reply was derailed by Andre Russell, who grabbed three quick wickets in the powerplay -Rahkeem Cornwall (zero), Kyle Mayers (zero) and Alick Athanaze (two) -while Sunil Narine accounted for Laurie Evans (five) and the host were unable to recover from the early demolition. They were eventually bowled out for 61 in 12.1 overs, succumbing to the largest defeat in CPL history.

Afghan left-arm wrist spinner Waqar Salamkheil introduced himself to the tournament in grand fashion, picking up four for 14 in 3.1 overs. Russell had three for 13 from two overs and Akeil Hosein, two for 16 from four.

Earlier, Trinbago Knight Riders had a cautious start to their innings, with Guptill progressing steadily at one point on 20 runs from 20 balls. They lost the wickets of Mark Deyal (27) and Nicholas Pooran (six), but the complexion of the innings changed once Pollard joined Guptill in the middle.

The two swung the momentum of the game, with Guptill, opening up and paraded his six hitting skills, as he hammered nine maximums and a solitary four on his way to an even 100 which came up in the final over. It was the first century of the 2023 edition and it was firmly backed by Pollard's well-paced knock, which included four sixes and a solitary four. 

Despite losing Pollard, Russell (five) and Dwayne Bravo (zero) at the backend, the damage was already done, and it was left for the Knight Riders bowlers to mop up what was left of the Royals hopes on the night.

Barbados Royals will be back in action tomorrow night against reigning champions Jamaica Tallawahs at the same venue.

Scores: Trinbago Knight Riders 194-5 (20 overs); Barbados Royals 61 all out (12.1 overs)

Hetmyer was retained by the Delhi Capitals ahead of the 2021 auction, despite a lukewarm season in which he scored 185 runs in 11 innings at an average of 23.12 and a strike rate of 148.

However, his compatriots Keemo Pail and Sherfane Rutherford were not as fortunate as they were both released having failed to force their way into the starting line ups for the Capitals and the Mumbai Indians, respectively.

Not surprisingly, Kieron Pollard has been retained by the 2020 champions Mumbai Indians. Pollard was an influential figure in the Indians set up and captained the team in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who was sidelined with a hamstring injury at the back end of the season.

Pollard’s compatriot, Dwayne Bravo, who suffered a season-ending injury in 2020, was retained by the Chennai Super Kings. Bravo won the Purple Cap in the 2013 and 2015 seasons. In 2013, he took 32 wickets during the IPL, the most ever for in an IPL, and he continues to be a game-changer for the Super Kings.

Meanwhile, Andre Russell and Sunil Narine were both retained by the Kolkata Knight Riders even after less than stellar seasons. Christopher Gayle and Nicholas Pooran were deservedly retained by the Kings XI Punjab.

Jason Holder, who was signed by the Sunrisers Hyderabad, after Mitchell Marsh suffered an injury early in the season, was retained by the franchise.

It was not all good news for Sheldon Cottrell who was released by Kings XI Punjab after a disappointing season. He was signed for more than USD$1 million.  Fabian Allen and Oshane Thomas were released by the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals, respectively.

West Indies captain Rovman Powell and Cricket West Indies vice-president Azim Bassarath were among those hoping to convince Narine to make himself available for one last hurrah at the June 1-29 global showpiece to be hosted in the Caribbean and United States. However, the decision that fans awaited with bated breaths came recently when Narine confirmed that "that door is now closed" despite his stellar form for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL.

Narine, 35, is currently leading the tournament's MVP standings after a remarkable run of form, including a magnificent 56-ball unbeaten 109 against Rajasthan Royals last week, his maiden T20 century. He is also KKR's joint-leading wicket-taker, taking nine at 22.11 with his offspin, at an economy rate of 7.10.

That rich vein of form is what initially resulted in Powell's pursuit, as the Jamaican admitted that he had been "whispering in [Narine's] ears" over the previous 12 months, ahead of what will be West Indies' first home World Cup campaign since 2007.

Narine, who retired from international cricket in November 2023, having not played for West Indies since 2019, insisted he was not about to change his mind.

"I'm truly flattered and humbled that my performances recently have moved many people to publicly express their wish for me to come out of retirement and play in the upcoming T20 World Cup," Narine wrote in a statement issued by KKR, 

"I have made peace with that decision and whilst I never wish to disappoint, that door is now closed, and I will be supporting the guys who take the field in June for West Indies. Guys who have worked hard for the past few months and deserve to show our wonderful fans that they are capable of winning another title - I wish you all the best," he added.

The Darren Sammy-led West Indies, who won the 2012 and 2016 edition, will be hunting a third title overall and first with Sammy at the helm as coach. 

KKR had already dispatched of the Sunrisers with an eight-wicket victory in the first qualifier on Tuesday, and pulled off another superb performance to clinch the IPL for a third time.

Mitchell Starc stifled SRH from the start, taking Abhishek Sharma for two runs off five balls before Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught Travis Head for a duck.

In a stellar bowling display, Starc eventually finished with 2-14, while Andre Russell chipped in with a 3-19 late on.

The Sunrisers failed to gain any momentum on a low-scoring day, with Pat Cummins the top scorer with 24 off 19, as SRH finished with a measly 113 all out in the 19th over.

Despite Sunil Narine's early exit, SRH failed to give themselves any hope as Venkatesh Iyer came on to plunder 52 not out from 26 balls, including three boundaries, adding to Gurbaz's 39.

Shreyas Iyer then came on to help KKR over the line with six runs, seeing the win out for his team with 57 balls remaining.

Data Debrief: KKR bowlers come out on top

Russell has taken 18 wickets in the IPL this year, the most he has taken in any edition, going past 17 from 2022.

The Sunrisers registered the lowest-ever run total in an IPL final (batting first or second), beating the previous record of 125. 

SRH lost 29 wickets during the powerplay overs in the IPL in 2024, the most by any team in this phase this season; it is also the second most wickets they have lost during the powerplay in a single IPL season (31 in 2013).

The Knight Riders won the toss and opted to field first and that decision appeared to have backfired when Johnson Charles’ half-century got the Kings off to a lightning start.

Although the Knight Riders pegged the Kings back in the middle overs a devastating 33 off 14 balls from David Wiese ensured the Knight Riders were set a very difficult 148 to win.

 The Knight Riders’ task became even more difficult when they lost three early wickets inside the PowerPlay including that of Nicholas Pooran for a duck. 

 They never really recovered from that and left themselves too much ground to make up in the back end resulting in the narrow defeat.

 The Kings had got off to a flier in the PowerPlay with the tournament’s top scorer Charles hitting another barnstorming fifty. His partnership with Niroshan Dickwella added 59 runs before Ravi Rampaul carried on his good form by removing the latter.

 When Rampaul removed the set Charles it led to a squeeze on the Kings scorecard as 82-3 quickly became 117-5.

 However, David Wiese was able to produce an excellent counter-attacking innings at the death to help the Kings post a challenging 147.

 The Knight Riders' response saw their top order fail again as Leonardo Julien, Colin Munro and Nicholas Pooran all fell inside the powerplay to Roston Chase.

 That left the middle and lower order too much to do and despite a late salvo by Andre Russell in the final over of the game, it was too little too late.

 The two sides swap places in the table following the results and both will now head to Guyana with all to play for in the race for the playoffs. 

Scores: Saint Lucia Kings 147-6 (Charles 54, Wiese 33; Rampaul 2-10, Narine 2-31) beat Trinbago Knight Riders 146-6 (Seifert 44, Pollard 34; Chase 3-17, Joseph 2-26) by 1 run.

The 32-years-old West Indies bowler does indeed face the threat of suspension after being reported for a suspect action during KKR’s victory over Kings XI Punjab last week.  The spinner is allowed to continue bowling, for now, but another report to the Indian Premier League (IPL) would see Narine suspended until cleared by the BCCI Suspect Bowling Action Committee.

Narine had performed heroics for KKR after defending 14 runs off the final over, to help his team register a stunning 2 runs victory over KXIP.  Despite that, however, Pietersen insists the bowler has not quite been at the same level since his last suspension.  Narine was previously suspended in 2015 when he was ranked No. 2 on the ODI and T20 rankings.  His action was reported as suspect in successive matches during the Champions League Twenty20.  It resulted in his missing out on playing in the final for Kolkata Knight Riders, who lost to Chennai Super Kings.

“If I am honest, I am not so sure it (Sunil Narine absence) is a massive loss. Andre Russell is the guy you spend time talking about in team meetings. When he bowls, you are thinking about it. When he bats, you are thinking about it. It is the same when he is fielding,” Pietersen said on Star Sports.

“Sunil Narine has not been the same bowler for a few years now. He hasn’t had his best; he hasn’t had his real big spin. Coming to Sharjah, it is not something you are really worried about Sunil Narine. And then the bowlers have found him out in his batting. You bowl him short, he doesn’t like it,” Pietersen added.

Gambhir has returned to the IPL franchise as a mentor for the 2024 IPL season.

KKR on Sunday retained Russell and Narine along with Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Jason Roy, Nitish Rana, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Venkatesh Iyer.

Russell joined KKR in 2014, while Narine joined in 2012 and both have been mainstays in the team since then.

“They both have been phenomenal cricketers for KKR. I feel that Gambhir has been quite pivotal in the retention of Russell and Narine. Gambhir understands them, he’s played with them, he’s captained them and he’ll be able to get the best out of them,” said Moody to ESPNCricinfo.

However, Moody also revealed their hesitation regarding Russell’s physical condition instead of his performance. Russell scored 227 runs in 14 matches while picking seven wickets for KKR in IPL 2023.

“I think we’ll see a different outcome in 2024 with regards to what Russell brings to the table. The only hesitation I have is not skill. It’s whether he can hold together physically because we’ve seen him break down on a couple of occasions over recent years and it’s been quite alarming. His bowling has been pretty limited as well, and they haven’t had the access to his full quota of overs,” Moody added.

The 32-year-old Narine is widely regarded as one of the best spinners in the world but has not appeared for the West Indies since 2019.  In total, Narine has played 6 Test matches, where he claimed 21 wickets, 65 One Day Internationals, where he has claimed 92 wickets, and 51 T20 Internationals where he has taken 52.

The player has, however, throughout his career been plagued by questions surrounding his bowling action.  In 2015, Narine was suspended from bowling in international cricket, after his action was deemed to be illegal.  He was reported during the ODI series against Sri Lanka.  He was cleared a year later after doing remedial work on his action.  Narine was reported again during the 2018 Pakistan Super League but was cleared soon after.  Again, in October 2020, the spinner was reported by on-field umpires for his bowling action in the 2020 Indian Premier League, which was cleared by IPL Suspect Bowling Action Committee in September.

According to Harper, at this point, the bowler does not seem comfortable enough with his technique to return to international cricket.

“Sunil Narine has indicated to us that he is not yet ready for the international scene,”
 Harper told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“He was still in the process of fine-tuning his action.  He had some issues with that so he is in the process of fine-tuning it,” he added.

“So, when he makes himself available and thinks that he is ready for international cricket, we will then have to make a determination at that point.”

Big scores had gone down as the tournament wore on, but Gladiators' 91 for 5 after being sent in appeared insufficient for the big occasion. It proved to be exactly that, despite Strikers being 7 for 2 in 1.1 overs, with openers Muhammad Waseem and Rahmanullah Gurbaz dismissed cheaply.

Niroshan Dickwella and Asif Ali, the Player of the Match, put the innings back on track, before Dickwella was sent back by Andre Russell for a 12-ball 14. From there on, it was all about Asif and captain Kieron Pollard, who put up 56 runs together without much scoreboard pressure to weigh them down.

Asif scored 48 not out in 25 balls with two fours and four sixes, and Pollard chipped in with 22 not out in 13, with a four and six, as Strikers won the title.

The win was set up by the bowlers, though. Gladiators had a decent opening stand of 28 with Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Nicholas Pooran, the No. 1 and No. 3 on the tournament run-scorers' list, but Narine broke through in the third over with Kohler-Cadmore's wicket for a seven-ball 13. Pooran fell to George Scrimshaw two balls later, and Gladiators were suddenly 28 for 2, which became 36 for 3, 41 for 4, and 57 for 5 after 7.1 overs, with Narine returning 2 for 6 from his two overs without conceding a single boundary.

Russell, who finished with an unbeaten 30 from 18 balls with two fours and two sixes, and David Wiese, 20 not out from 11, with a four and two sixes, completed the innings with some momentum, but it was too few for Gladiators to defend on the night.

The Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field first, a decision which was proven right early as the Super Kings lost openers Ruturaj Gaikwad (0) and Devon Conway (3) in quick succession.

Despite a fighting 50 not out from former captain MS Dhoni, Chennai could only muster up 131-5 off their 20 overs.

Umesh Yadav bowled a fiery spell to finish with 2-20 from his four overs.

Narine went wicketless in his four overs while only conceding 15 runs and Russell took 1-38 from his four overs.

KKR then got through their chase with little resistance thanks to a top score of 44 from Ajinkya Rahane and solid contributions from Sam Billings (25) and Nitish Rana (21).

Captain Shreyas Iyer (20) and Sheldon Jackson (3) were at the crease when KKR got to 133-4 with nine balls to spare.

Despite the loss, Dwayne Bravo was excellent with the ball taking 3-20 from his four overs and, in the process, joining Sri Lankan great Lasith Malinga at the top of the all-time IPL leading wicket-takers list with 170.

While he ended up with relatively pedestrian figures of 1-34 off his four overs to help Surrey defend a mammoth 237, his dismissal of South African Colin Ingram for 11 was extremely significant.

With that dismissal, the 35-year-old Trinidadian became only the third man in history to reach 500 wickets in T20s, joining Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, who has 555 and fellow Trinidadian, Dwayne Bravo, who leads the way by a mile with 615.

Narine made his T20 debut all the way back in 2011 when he represented Trinidad & Tobago against Hampshire in the Caribbean T20 at the Kensington Oval and has since gone on to represent a number of franchises in leagues across the globe, most notably helping the Kolkata Knight Riders to a pair of IPL titles in 2012 and 2014, taking over 20 wickets in each season.

In Surrey’s next game, which they also won, Narine was back to his best with figures of 3-12 in 2.5 overs.

In total, Narine has taken 503 wickets in 461 matches at an average of 21.01 including 12 four-wicket hauls and one five-wicket haul.

For the West Indies, Narine has taken 52 wickets in 51 matches at 21.25. His last T20 for the West Indies came against India at Providence in 2019.

Ali Khan and Jayden Seales started superbly after Knight Riders captain Kieron Pollard put the Tallawahs in. Walton spliced Ali Khan to square leg and Kirton was trapped in front by Seales.

Glenn Phillips and Tallawahs captain Rovman Powell both hit their first ball for Hero Maximums, but a flamboyant DJ Bravo catch gave Ali Khan the wicket of Powell. Asif Ali coming to the crease in the third over could not have been part of the Tallawahs’ Plan A.

A mini-recovery ensued as Phillips took Seales for a pair of boundaries, and Asif welcomed Khary Pierre to Hero CPL 2020 with an enormous straight-six. Narine bamboozled Asif five balls straight but found himself hammered into the stands for a magnificent Powerplay-closing Hero Maximum.

Narine had his revenge, bowling Asif with a deceptive quicker ball. The Tallawahs crawled to 63/4 at halfway, and it got worse when a Fawad googly completely deceived Brathwaite. The leg-spinner’s first two overs tonight contained a remarkable 11 dot balls.

Phillips broke the spell off Fawad to come out of his post-Powerplay slump and reach 50 off 34 balls. The Tallawahs were careful to see off Narine, but at 90/5 with six overs to come, the acceleration had to come at some point, and once Phillips fell trying to whip Seales over deep square leg the onus was all on Russell.

Ali Khan delivered a near-perfect over, closing by nearly holding a spectacular return catch off a ferocious drive from Ramaal Lewis, who came into the Tallawahs XI for Veerasammy Permaul. In truth the American was lucky to escape with his teeth intact.

Thanks to a fine diving catch at mid-off from Colin Munro, a restless Russell fell having faced a good number of deliveries for under a run a ball for the second game running. Remarkably, he is yet hit a six in this year’s Hero CPL.

The final over saw Fidel Edwards, into the team for Oshane Thomas for his first Hero CPL game since 2015, run out as he sacrificed himself to save Lewis, but the all-rounder couldn’t manage a boundary. Ali Khan and Dwayne Bravo’s death bowling was outstanding, and the Tallawahs total felt sub-par.

Edwards and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman troubled the top order, with Lendl Simmons losing his shape off the paceman and gifting a catch to mid-off. After 4 overs the Tallawahs had Trinbago nerves jangling, but Narine’s eyes lit up when inexperienced off-spinner Lewis came into the attack.

Fourteen runs came off the over.

Munro and Narine both drove Russell for four through cover, and 38/1 off the Powerplay meant things were much calmer in the Knight Riders dugout.

Narine has built his reputation as a hitter of spin, but he was severe on the pace of Russell, with the highlight an impudent inside-out four on one leg. He brought up a 35-ball 50 off the last ball of the 10th over, at which point the Knight Riders needed just 71 off 60 with nine wickets in hand.

Munro’s was a curious innings - he managed just 16 off his first 24 balls, but 14 of them were boundaries, and it wasn’t until the 17th over that he breached a run a ball. This all-or-nothing approach was a feature of the chase, and the Knight Riders will want to address their high dot-ball percentage as they move through the tournament.

Mujeeb was excellent, and deserves huge credit for holding a skied return catch off Darren Bravo despite keeper Phillips nearly taking him out with a full-length dive. But Narine’s belligerence and Munro’s anchor role meant that, although the Tallawahs will rue a few missed opportunities, the Knight Riders always had the chase firmly under control.

The sense of ease was underlined when Pollard had time to block out an Edwards over in an ultimately vain attempt to steer Munro to 50, and the Knight Riders go into the weekend sitting pretty atop the standings.

The hosts won the toss and posted a formidable 182-6 from their 20 overs thanks to 83* from Virat Kohli and 33 from Cameron Green.

Andre Russell was the pick of the KKR bowlers with 2-29 from his four overs while Harshit Rana took 2-39 and Narine took 1-40.

The Knight Riders then sprinted to their target, reaching 186-3 with 19 balls to spare.

Venkatesh Iyer led the way with a 30-ball 50 including three fours and four sixes while Narine, who opened the batting, set the tone for the innings with 47 off just 22 balls including two fours and five sixes.

Kolkata Knight Riders 186 for 3 (Venkatesh Iyer 50, Sunil Narine 47) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 182 for 6 (Virat Kohli 83*, Andre Russell 2-29, Rana 2-39) by seven wickets

Surrey won the toss and elected to field first, restricting Middlesex to 155-8 off their 20 overs.

Luke Hollman (31), captain Stephen Eskinazi (25), and wicketkeeper/batsman John Simpson (25) were the chief scorers against Narine (2-27 off four overs) and Barbados-born England all-rounder Chris Jordan (2-27 off four overs).

Narine then top-scored with 51 not out off just 29 balls, including two fours and four sixes, while engaging in a match-winning 73-run fourth-wicket partnership with England test batsman Ollie Pope (37 not out).

Opener Will Jacks earlier smashed a 20-ball 43 for Surrey who easily reached 158-3 off just 15.1 overs to secure victory.

Surrey, also the team of former West Indies white-ball captain Kieron Pollard, now lead the South Group with 15 points from eight games after seven wins and one no result.

Narine’s 50 came from just 13 balls with four fours and four sixes as Comilla Victorians successfully chased down 149 in just 12.5 overs. Thanks to Narine, Comilla Victorians raced to 79 inside the Powerplay after Litton Das had been dismissed, first ball, without scoring.

When the Trinidadian was eventually dismissed for 57 (16) in the sixth over, the platform had already been set for Imran Kayes (22), Faf de Plessis and Moeen Ali, who were both unbeaten on 30 in an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 54 that took the side to victory.

Ali was particularly brutal on the opposing bowling attack with three fours and two sixes from the 13 balls he faced. Ali ended the match with those sixes off consecutive balls from Shoriful Islam.

Earlier, Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored 44 and Akbar Ali 33 to rescued Chattogram Challengers from disaster at 50-5 after eight overs. From a promising 31-0 in the fourth over, Chattogram lost the wickets of Will Jacks for 16, Zakir Hasan for 20, Chadwick Walton for 2, Affif Hossain for 10 and Shamim Hossain without scoring in the space of 26 balls.

Mrittunjoy Chowdhury scored 15 from nine balls late to give push Chattogram to 148 from 19.1 overs.

Ali with 3-20 and Shohidul Islam 3-33 did the damage for Comilla Victorians, who will now face Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo in the finals on Friday.

The Knight Riders suffered defeat to table-toppers Chennai Super Kings last time out but, thanks to the all-round efforts of Sunil Narine, hit back in a low-scoring affair to move into a playoff spot. 

Delhi were restricted to 127-9 after being put in to bat. Despite Steve Smith (39) steadying the ship, with the Australian top-scoring alongside Rishabh Pant, Kolkata ripped through their opponents' batting line-up. 

Narine claimed 2-18 from four economical overs, while there were also two wickets apiece for Lockie Ferguson and Venkatesh Iyer. 

KKR chased down that score with relative ease in the end, albeit only after surviving a bit of a scare early on in their response. 

Iyer and Rahul Tripathi departed inside the powerplay for 14 and nine respectively, though Shubman Gill (30) anchored the innings, his runs coming from 33 deliveries. 

Skipper Eoin Morgan fell to Ravichandran Ashwin for a duck before Dinesh Karthik followed for 12, leaving the score at 96-5. 

The loss of Narine (21) raised the prospect of late drama, but Nitish Rana (36 not out) got his side over the line for a potentially huge victory in the context of the campaign.

Hard works pays off for Narine 

Narine was named player of the match after an impressive cameo of 21 off 10 balls – including two sixes and one four – to swing the contest back firmly in KKR's favour. 

"Batting in the middle order is challenging," Narine said. "It's pleasing to see hard work paying off after a long time. I think we are playing some good cricket." 

Khan impresses in defeat

Avesh Khan took three wickets, conceded just 13 runs and had an economy rate of 4.33 runs per over. The 24-year-old has now picked up at least one wicket in all but one game this season, though it was not enough to help Delhi find a way to prevail. 

"I was really happy with our bowling performance today," losing skipper Rishabh Pant said. "But batting was pretty difficult for the new batters. Overall there isn't massive changes needed." 

The Trinidadian who is a key player for the Kolkata Knight Riders had been placed on the warning list following their match against KingsXIPunjab on October 10. He was reported by onfield umpires Ulhas Gandhe and Chris Gaffaney in relation to a delivery he delivered during the last over of the match that KKR won by two runs.

However, in a statement on Sunday the IPL said Narine’s action had been assessed by the IPL Suspect Bowling Action Committee and it was determined that the mystery bowler was within the prescribed limits.

"The Committee carefully reviewed all the deliveries of action footage sent of Mr Narine with the naked eye and has come to the conclusion that the elbow-bend appears to be within the range of permissible limits," the IPL statement said.

Cricket West Indies had said that they had planned to monitor Narine's progress as the player is being considered for West Indies selection.

Narine starred with 2-16 from his four overs to help the Victorians restrict the Sixers to 177-5 from their 20 overs after winning the toss and choosing to bat at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.

Rishad Hossain also took a pair of wickets for the Victorians but was expensive, going for 37 in his three overs.

English all-rounder Benny Howell led the way for Sylhet with a 31-ball 62 including six fours and four sixes while the hard-hitting Kennar Lewis made 33 off 25 balls at the top of the innings.

Then, despite 85 from Captain and wicket-keeper Litton Das, the Victorians were held to 165-6 off their 20 overs.

Andre Russell also tried his best with 23 off 14 balls but a crucial spell of bowling from Tanzim Hasan Sakib was too much for Comilla to overcome in the end.

He was relatively expensive, going for 33 in three overs, but took three wickets in the process.

Samit Patel and Shafiqul Islam were more economical in their four-over spells, taking figures of 1-15 and 1-18, respectively.

Comilla still sits second in the points standings despite the loss with 14 points from 10 games while the Sixers are still sixth in the seven-team table with eight points from 11 outings.