Sunil Narine came up with a brilliant all-round show, slamming a century and picked two wickets to keep Kolkata Knight Riders in the hunt for their fifth win of the season before Jos Buttler came out all guns blazing for his second century of the IPL 2024 to power Rajasthan Royals to a two-wicket victory at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday evening.

While Narine’s heroics might have gone in vain in context to the eventual outcome of the game, the veteran West Indian all-rounder’s abilities haven’t gone unnoticed back home, as the West Indies prepare to jointly host the T20 World Cup along with the US in June.

The West Indies are not giving up hope on Narine reversing his retirement decision and featuring at this year’s T20 World Cup. West Indies T20I captain Rovman Powell has revealed he is trying to coax in-form Narine out of retirement to play for the Caribbean side at the marque tournament.

The 35-year-old Narine has already showcased his class over several seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL), and Tuesday was no different as he exhibited his power-hitting skills while opening the innings for KKR, and propelling them to 223 against the Royals.

Narine’s knock made him only the third KKR batter to slam a century in the IPL, and his recent ton catapulted him into the third place on the leading run-scorers in this year’s tournament. His knock has also served as a timely reminder to West Indies’ selectors of how dangerous the left-hander can be at the top of the order.

While Narine hasn’t played an international match since August 2019 and officially announced his retirement in November last year, it leaves little hope that he will feature at the 20-over showcase this year.

But Powell, who was in the opposition dug out on Tuesday evening, and witnessed Narine’s pyrotechnics with the bat that fetched 109 from close range, suggested there may still be some chance the veteran will play the T20 World Cup.

“For the last 12 months, I’ve been whispering in his (Narine’s) ears, but he’s blocked out everyone.

I’ve asked (Kieron) Pollard, (Dwayne) Bravo and (Nicholas) Pooran. Hopefully, before they select the team, they can crack his code,” Powell said.

Narine, who had earlier maintained that he would likely be watching the T20 World Cup from home, on Tuesday, hinted at a potential return when asked if he would reconsider his retirement decision.

“It is what it is, but let’s see what the future holds,” said Narine, who has featured in 51 T20Is for the West Indies and played a major role in helping the Caribbean side to success at the fourth edition of the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2012.

Meanwhile, Powell, who was featuring in his only second game of IPL 2024, was a key contributor to Royals’ chase, hitting 26 off 13 balls. He took apart Narine for a four and two back-to-back sixes in a 16-run over that left Royals needing 46 off the last three. They eventually got home off the last delivery when Buttler, who struck his second century of the competition, heaved Varun Chakravarthy into the leg side with the scores level.