Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has named West Indies and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) legend Sunil Narine as the greatest T20 cricketer of all time. Despite considering several modern-day stars, including Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli, Rashid Khan and AB de Villiers, Pathan ultimately placed his faith in the experienced West Indian spinner.
Narine has built an extraordinary reputation in T20 cricket, winning the 2012 T20 World Cup with West Indies and three IPL titles with KKR in 2012, 2014 and 2024. Across 617 T20 appearances for more than a dozen teams, he has claimed 658 wickets and scored over 5,000 runs. The mystery spinner is the second-highest wicket-taker in T20 cricket and holds the distinction of being the only player to win three IPL Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Season awards.
Speaking in a video shared by Cricinfo on Tuesday, Irfan Pathan was asked to select his greatest T20 cricketer through a series of head-to-head choices. In the opening round, he picked Narine over Rashid Khan, AB de Villiers over Kieron Pollard, Kohli over Chris Gayle and Bumrah over Pollard.
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Explaining his decision to favour Sunil Narine over Rashid, Irfan Pathan admitted that the Afghanistan spinner was one of his personal favourites. However, Narine’s ability to contribute with the bat as well as the ball gave him the advantage. “Rashid Khan is my personal favourite. I would actually have him in my team, but because Sunil Narine has batted up the order just a little bit, he takes an edge. So Sunil Narine,” Pathan said.
In the next round, Pathan preferred Narine over de Villiers and selected Bumrah ahead of Kohli. The decision was particularly interesting given Kohli’s record as the highest run-scorer in IPL history and the leading Indian run-getter in T20 cricket. However, when asked to choose between Narine and Bumrah in the final round, Irfan Pathan once again backed the KKR all-rounder to claim the top spot.
Although Narine is no longer an active international cricketer, he continues to play a crucial role for KKR in the IPL. Since making his debut for the franchise in 2012, he has featured in 202 IPL matches, collecting 207 wickets and scoring 1,820 runs. During the 2026 IPL season, Narine scored 40 runs in four innings and picked up 15 wickets in 13 matches for Ajinkya Rahane’s KKR side.
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Meanwhile, Bumrah boasts an impressive T20 resume of his own, having won two T20 World Cups with India and five IPL titles with Mumbai Indians. The Ahmedabad-born pacer is also India’s second-highest wicket-taker in T20Is. Interestingly, Rashid Khan had named Bumrah the greatest T20 cricketer a few weeks earlier.
