As the first ball was bowled in the MI vs KKR clash tonight, the spotlight shifted from the scoreboard to the record books. Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) veteran all-rounder Sunil Narine officially became the most-capped overseas player in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Narine achieved this feat by making his 190th appearance, surpassing the previous record of 189 matches held by Mumbai Indians legend Kieron Pollard.
A Legacy of loyalty
While several legends on this list have played for multiple teams, Narine shares a unique bond with Pollard: singular franchise loyalty. Just as Pollard played all 189 games for the Mumbai Indians, Narine has played all 190 of his matches in the purple and gold of KKR.
| Rank | Player | Matches | Franchise(s) |
| 1 | Sunil Narine* | 190 | Kolkata Knight Riders |
| 2 | Kieron Pollard | 189 | Mumbai Indians |
| 3 | AB de Villiers | 184 | DD (DC), RCB |
| 4 | David Warner | 184 | DD (DC), SRH |
| 5 | Dwayne Bravo | 161 | MI, CSK, GL |
Since his debut in 2012, Narine has been the cornerstone of KKR’s three title-winning campaigns (2012, 2014 and 2024), evolving from a mystery spinner to also someone who can chip in at the top of the order and provide the team with blistering starts.
Captains ready 🤝
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 29, 2026
GAME ON in Mumbai 💪
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The “300” club connection
The record fell on a night of massive milestones. While Narine claimed the individual overseas record, his opponents, the Mumbai Indians, became the first franchise in history to play 300 T20 matches tonight.
It is poetic that Narine broke the record of a Mumbai Indians icon on the very night the Mumbai franchise reached its own historic team milestone.
MI vs KKR Starting XI:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (wicketkeeper), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (captain), Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Markande, AM Ghazanfar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Kolkata Knight Riders: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wicketkeeper), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Blessing Muzarabani