Sunil Narine's mission impossible: 75 hours, two continents, four games

Sunil Narine is planning a 9000-mile round trip across the Atlantic to ensure that he can fulfil his T20 commitments this weekend, playing for LA Knight Riders in the inaugural season of Major League Cricket (MLC) and for Surrey in the Vitality Blast.

Narine has been in the UK for the last six weeks, since the conclusion of the IPL, and has played in all of Surrey's 15 Blast fixtures to date. He is their leading wicket-taker, with 20 scalps, and has also rediscovered his form with the bat, averaging 22.55 at a strike rate of 159.84.

After playing in Surrey's quarter-final victory over Lancashire in Manchester on Friday night, Narine flew to the US and will captain LA Knight Riders - his fourth Knight Riders franchise, after Kolkata, Trinbago and Abu Dhabi - on MLC's opening night in Dallas on Thursday, against Texas Super Kings.

Surrey expect Narine to land back in the UK on Saturday morning, in time for their Blast semi-final against Somerset, which starts at 2.30pm at Edgbaston. If they win, they would then play against either Essex or Hampshire later that evening in the final.

Narine would then travel back to Dallas, aiming to return in time for LAKR's second fixture on Sunday night. If Surrey qualify for the Blast final, Narine could play four games within a 75-hour window - around 18 of which would be spent on transatlantic flights.

There remains a chance that Narine's itinerary could change but Chris Jordan, Surrey's captain, confirmed to ESPNcricinfo: "That's the plan." He added: "His schedule is quite tight, but that's exactly where franchise cricket is at. I know from playing it quite a bit as well, the challenges of it, but once the commitment is there, everything else becomes easy.

"He is definitely a very committed cricketer and a very committed guy," Jordan said of Narine. "You only have to see the way he jumps into training: he loves batting and bowling, improving his game, coming up against different players. I call him my Swiss Army knife: he's a guy for any situation and any time."

Players have made similar trips previously for Blast Finals Day. For example, Alex Hales and Harry Gurney both returned from the Caribbean Premier League to play for Nottinghamshire in 2019, then flew back to Barbados the following day.

Many players also hopped from tournament to tournament at short notice during the congested window from November 2022-February 2023, which saw a number of franchise leagues running simultaneously, but the scale of Narine's potential commute may be unprecedented.