West Indies all-rounder and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) star who retired from the international cricket in November 2023 has given his final verdict to his home team about ICC T20 World Cup 2024. He ended all hopes and speculations about returning to mega event by stating that the door to him is "now closed."
Narine said that he was "flattered and humbled" by the admiration he received for his performance with both bat and ball in ongoing Indian Premier League season that got the West Indies captain Rovman Powell, his teammates and former cricketers like Ian Bishop talking about his return for the T20 World Cup.
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“I hope this message finds you all well and in good health. 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 said.
KKR star all-rounder as so far scored more than 250 runs in IPL 2024 season with average of 40.86 with strike rate of 176.54. He also slammed his maiden T20 century in this edition and took 9 wickets in 7 matches at a economy rate of 7.11.
Also Read | Sunil Narine becomes bowler with most wickets for single franchise in IPL history.
Seeing Narine's all-round performance, West Indies T20 captain Powell expresses that he has been trying to coax Narine to come out of retirement for close to 12 months now. He said he has even got in touch with Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo to convince Narine.
"I have asked [Kieron] Pollard, [Dwayne] Bravo, [Nicholas] Pooran. Hopefully, before they select the team, they can crack his code," Powell said.
However, Narine said he has made peace with the decision to retire and has no plans of representing West Indies in the T20 World Cup slated to begin in June 2024.
"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," Narine said.
