IPL 2024: Sunil Narine joins Rohit Sharma and Shane Watson in elite club during KKR vs RR thriller

Sunil Narine was on a roll during match 31 of the IPL 2024 edition where Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) locked horns with Rajasthan Royals (RR) in a battle of the top-two teams at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Tuesday (April 16). Narine slammed a brilliant 109 as KKR posted 223/6, after being asked to bat first, and also returned with impressive figures of 4-0-30-2 but his efforts weren't enough as Jos Buttler's unbeaten 107 took his side to a memorable two-wicket win in a high-scoring thriller. Despite this, Narine joined Rohit Sharma and Shane Watson in an elite club in the IPL.

Narine became only the third cricketer in the history of IPL, after Mumbai Indians' (MI) Rohit and Watson, to slam a hundred and also claim a hat-trick. Rohit has so far hit two IPL centuries, with his most recent coming against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in MI's 20-run loss in match 29 on Sunday (April 14), whereas Hitman claimed a hat-trick during the 2009 edition. Back then, he was playing for the now-defunct Deccan Chargers (DC) and he attained the feat versus MI in Centurion(removing the likes of Abhishek Nayar, JP Duminy and Harbhajan Singh).

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Talking about Watson, who won the IPL for RR and CSK during his playing days, the Australian ended his IPL career with four centuries. Further, he took a hat-trick during his RR days, when they locked horns against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in IPL 2014. Back then, he dismissedShikhar Dhawan, Moises Henriques and Karn Sharma in Ahmedabad. Meanwhile, Narine also claimed a hat-trick during IPL 2013, when KKR faced Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), now known as Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mohali.He got rid ofDavid Hussey, Gurkeerat Singh and Azhar Mahmood at the PCA Stadium, Mohali.

At present, Narine-starrer KKR are placed second despite their narrow loss to RR in match 31 on Tuesday evening. They will now host the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on April 21 (Sunday).