Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder Sunil Narine smashed his maiden IPL century against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday. Narine, who has returned to the opening slot this season, once again enthralled the crowd with his free-flowing shots at Eden Gardens. The southpaw smashed the RR bowlers all around the park and put his team on top despite losing opening partner Phil Salt early.

Narine took 49 balls to register his first triple-digit score in the Indian Premier League. He smashed Purple Cap holder Yuzvendra Chahal for back-to-back four boundaries (2 sixes and 2 fours) to reach the mark. The Eden Gardens lit up when he got to his century as KKR co-owner and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan jumped in joy as he has been regularly attending this season’s matches to support his team.

KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir was also pumped up as he entered the middle of the strategic time-out, which was taken after his ton, and hugged the opener to congratulate him for his special feat.

Narine failed to register a double-digit score in the last season but fortunes changed for him with Gambhir’s arrival in the camp. It was under his captaincy in the past when Narine started opening in IPL and the two-time IPL-winning skipper reinstated him as an opener on his return to the franchise as a mentor.

It was Narine’s first century in the shortest format of the game. He also became the third KKR batter to hit a century in IPL. Brendon McCullum was the batter from the franchise to hit the triple-figure mark and he achieved the feat in the first-ever IPL match to set the stage on fire.

IPL hundreds for KKR

158* – Brendon McCullum vs RCB, Bengaluru, 2008

100* – Sunil Narine vs RR, Kolkata, 2024

104 – Venkatesh Iyer vs MI, Mumbai, 2023

The southpaw didn’t shy away from taking on one of the best bowling attacks of IPL 2024 as he smashed everyone in their line-up including Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin and Trent Boult.

He batted with a fearless approach and the early wicket of Salt didn’t stop him from swinging his bat. He shared a 85-run stand alongside young Angkrish Raghuvanshi which gave Knight Riders good momentum in the innings. He was castled by Boult for 109 but his knock helped KKR post 223/6 in 20 overs.

Earlier, RR skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bowl first at Eden Gardens. At the toss, KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer talked highly of Narine.

“Whenever he (Narine) comes in, he is hard to read and he’s got that poker face all throughout, we want him to perform him the way he has,” Iyer said at the toss.