When will Sunil Narine’s mystery be cracked?

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The ‘off-spinner’ prefix hardly seems suitable for Sunil Narine, the Kolkata Knight Riders’ Trinidadian import.

His fare goes beyond the orthodox flighted offies to include a mind-boggling array of mystery leg-breaks, doosras and knuckle balls that have repeatedly hoodwinked batsmen this IPL season.

Having bagged 22 wickets at an average of 11.80 with a league-best economy rate of 5.25, it’s fair to say that he has been IPL-5’s Most Valuable Player along with Chris Gayle.

He’s not been picked by many over the last six weeks, and the fact that he completely outfoxed Sachin Tendulkar in Kolkata’s match against the Mumbai Indians last week, with a ball that turned a good foot before smashing into the Master’s off-stump, would suggest he has a promising future.

But as he readies himself to cast a spell again in the Knight Riders’ play-off clash with the Delhi Daredevils, the question inevitably arises, how long before he’s figured out by the batsmen.

Pune Warriors bowling coach Allan Donald, who observed him very minutely during his side’s 34-run loss to Kolkata on Saturday said Narine has perhaps has few more months, before he’s found out.

“He’s remarkably skilled, but how successful he will be one or two years from now, will depend on whether he can continue to reinvent himself or not.

There are so many cameras on him right now. All of this footage is likely to be viewed by coaches around the world, who’ll eventually manage to break his code through computers,” Donald told this newspaper on Sunday.

“I think he has a few more months left before people start to understand him and start reading him off his hand.”

Narine has just nine international matches to his name, but has yet to play a Test. He was in line for a spot in the West Indies’ Test team, currently engaged in the three-match Test series against England, but was not included.

His talent coupled with limited exposure has been a big factor in his success.

Like Narine, Sri Lankan offie Ajantha Mendis too posed similar problems to the batsmen at the start of his career, before turning out to be a cannon fodder for international batsman.

The Mendis of now struggles to find a place in Sri Lankan Test and ODI squad. KKR batsmen Manoj Tiwary, who’s batted against both of them at KKR nets, said Narine relies more on his accuracy than his bag of tricks.

“Narine imparts a lot of spin. Both vary their pace, but Narine’s high trajectory and his superb accuracy will keep the batsmen guessing even after IPL,” Tiwary said.