KKR star Sunil Narine has added a new record to his name in the IPL as he became the foreigner with the most appearances in the history of the competition. Narine was named in the lineup for the match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede stadium on Sunday, March 29, which is his 190th appearance in the IPL and all of them have been for Kolkata.
The West Indian all-rounder went past compatriot Kieron Pollard, who played 189 matches for Mumbai during his IPL career.
Most IPL Matches for a Foreign Player
190 – Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders)*
189 – Kieron Pollard (Mumbai Indians)
184 – AB de Villiers (Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bengaluru)
184 – David Warner (Delhi Capitals, Sunrisers Hyderabad)
161 – Dwayne Bravo (Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Lions, Mumbai Indians)
NARINE’S IPL CAREER SO FAR
Narine was bought by KKR during the 2012 auction, interestingly, after a bidding war with MI for Rs. 3.4 crore and won the IPL title in his very first season. Since then, Narine has added two more IPL titles to his name and transitioned from being a mystery spinner to a proper all-rounder. Across 189 matches in the league before the game on Sunday, the West Indies veteran has claimed 192 wickets from 187 innings, highlighted by seven four-wicket hauls and a single five-wicket performance.
With the bat, he has also made a strong impact, scoring 1,780 runs in 122 innings, which includes one century and seven fifties. The 2024 season was one of the best for Narine with bat and ball as he scored 488 runs with a strike-rate of 180.74 and picked up 17 wickets at an average of 21.65.
Following this, he was retained by KKR for Rs. 12 Crore ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, but the season wasn’t a great one for him. Narine managed just 12 wickets in 12 matches and scored 246 runs.
