Less than a month ago when Guardian Media Sports reported that T&T’s mystery spinner Sunil Narine will be twirling his magical deliveries for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), a day before it bowled off, the big news out of the IPL on Saturday, was not about the two matches played but that Narine was reported once again for suspect bowling action after the match against Kings XI Punjab in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates .
The Kolkata Knight Riders won the match by two runs with Narine playing a starring role with his death bowling.
“The report was made by the on-field umpires according to the IPL’s Suspected Illegal Bowling Action Policy, Narine will be placed on the Warning List and is permitted to continue to bowl in the tournament,” the Indian Premier League release stated.
However, Narine will be suspended from bowling in the tournament if he’s reported once more. He will then have his action cleared by the BCCI Suspect Bowling Action Committee to bowl again in the tournament.
The Queen’s Park Cricket Club player was cleared to bowl after being reported by the umpires during the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) tournament which ended on September 10 and in which he featured prominently with his team the Trinibago Knight Riders (TKR) defeating the St Lucia Zouks in the final by eight wickets at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, San Fernando.
Guardian Media Sports reported that Narine, 32, a right-arm-off-break bowler and Zouks fast bowler Kesrick Williams, 30, were both reported at the end of the fourth round for a suspect bowling action. Narine, who played five of his team’s 12 matches took six wickets, did the required remedial work and was been cleared to play in the IPL.
Narine, who was first reported for a suspect bowling action on March 14, 2018, during the Pakistan Super League game between Lahore Qalandars and Quetta Gladiators, was reported twice in the Champions League 2014 tournament and missed the 2015 World Cup to work on his action. He was reported during the 2015 IPL as well and was eventually suspended from bowling in November that year. He was suspended from bowling— even while being the No 1 bowler in the ICC rankings for ODIs and T20Is—at the end of November, and missed the 2016 World T20 as well to work on his action. The International Cricket Council cleared his action in April 2016 but he had to pull out of the T20 World Cup in India that year. In March 2018, he was reported again during the Pakistan Super League.
Narine, one of West Indioes ace bowlers, has worked extensively with Carl Crowe, an off-spinner himself during his playing days, to remodel his action. KKR got Leicester-based biomechanist into the picture to help the allrounder.
While Narine has struggled with the bat in IPL 2020, scoring just 44 runs from five innings at an average of 8.80, he has made a mark with the ball. In the match against Chennai Super Kings, he dismissed Shane Watson at a crucial juncture to hand KKR a 10-run win.
KKR next play Royal Challengers Bangalore in Sharjah on October 12.