Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have become the first IPL team to take 650 wickets of spin in men’s T20 cricket. The franchise achieved the record as Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy combined for figures of 5/67 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday (May 3).
Varun Chakaravarthy took three wickets for 36 runs, getting rid of Travis Head, Smaran Ravichandran, and Aniket Verma to break the back of the SRH middle-order. Narine took the responsibility of bowling to Head and Abhishek Sharma in the power play and went wicketless in his first three overs.
In the final over, he took two, getting rid of Salil Arora for his historic 200th IPL wicket, which was also KKR’s 650th of spin in T20s. Narine added
another with Ishan Kishan on his last ball.
Out of these 651, 605 have come in the IPL, the remaining coming in the now-defunct Champions League T20 competition. KKR is also the only team with 600-plus wickets of spin in the IPL.
In T20s, only the Pakistan men’s national team (821), the Indian men’s national team (778), and the English county club Lancashire (754) have taken more wickets than KKR in T20 cricket. Among the IPL franchises, CSK are the second-best with 620, though they have bowled 16 fewer innings of spin, mostly because they missed two seasons of the league due to their ban in 2016 and 2017.
Teams with the most wickets of spin in T20 cricket
| Team | Wickets | Players Involved | Innings | Average | Economy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pakistan | 812 | 60 | 798 | 21.24 | 6.86 |
| India | 778 | 52 | 725 | 22.04 | 7.31 |
| Lancashire | 754 | 45 | 801 | 23.69 | 7.27 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 651 | 47 | 715 | 27.4 | 7.38 |
| Chennai Super Kings | 620 | 41 | 699 | 26.51 | 7.4 |
| Warwickshire | 611 | 35 | 579 | 22.47 | 7.37 |
| Afghanistan | 607 | 27 | 577 | 20.36 | 6.67 |
| Sri Lanka | 582 | 58 | 596 | 23.26 | 7.25 |
| Bangladesh | 567 | 43 | 632 | 24.11 | 7.32 |
| Nottinghamshire | 552 | 40 | 572 | 24.74 | 7.57 |
KKR’s spin heritage
Dominating with spinners has always been part of KKR’s heritage. Narine has been the face of that since 2012 when Gautam Gambhir started to bring the best out of him, but before him there were the likes of Iqbal Abdulla and Murali Karthik making an impact. Narine has seen some brilliant partners, like left-arm wrist spinners Brad Hogg and Kuldeep Yadav and now Chakaravarthy.
Under Gambhir, KKR’s Eden Gardens was a spin haven to suit these strengths. It’s not much so anymore but the legacy has continued.
