Sunil Narine has been banned from bowling his offbreaks in any match organised by the BCCI, including in the IPL. He may, however, continue to bowl his other deliveries – the knuckle ball and the quicker straight ball. If he uses the offbreak again in the ongoing IPL, he will be suspended from bowling in BCCI-organised matches.
Narine had been reported again for a suspect action following Kolkata Knight Riders’ game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 22 in Visakhapatnam. He then went to the ICC-accredited Sri Ramachandra Arthroscopy and Sports Sciences Centre in Chennai for a biomechanical analysis of his bowling action. The BCCI suspect bowling action committee reviewed the evidence of the match footage and the analysis, and concluded that Narine’s action for his offbreak was illegal.
Since being reported, Narine missed Knight Riders’ match against Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday as the franchise had decided to not risk playing the offspinner.
Narine had been reported twice during the Champions League T20 last year and was subsequently banned from bowling in the final of the tournament. He skipped West Indies’ tour of India and later withdrew from their World Cup squad, choosing to focus on remodelling his action.
He underwent testing at the University of Loughborough and was cleared but the BCCI asked him to undergo another round of tests at the Sri Ramachandra University. He was then cleared by the BCCI suspect action committee and played five games for Knight Riders this season before being reported again.
He will now have to undergo corrective work on his action again after which he can request for another assessment by the BCCI committee.
KARTIK WARNS AGAINST RUSHING NARINE BACK TO BOWLING:
Former India spinner Murali Kartik said the ban on Sunil Narine’s offbreaks was a setback and added rushing him back into bowling could be detrimental to Narine and his team Kolkata Knight Riders.
“It is already hurting him [Narine] in terms of physical and emotional pain because just to be called or to be put on the suspect [actions] list is a big thing,” Karthik told ESPNcricinfo. “You can see it is hurting. He is not the Narine we have known because his economy rate has gone up and his wicket-taking ability has gone down.”
Narine’s economy rate in five matches this season is 7.35, a noticeable increase from the 5.77 he has managed across three previous seasons. In those five matches, Narine has gone wicketless thrice. In 47 previous IPL matches, he had gone wicketless in only 13 matches.
“He needs to have very strong people around him,” Kartik said. “People who need to give him the belief that by changing and remodelling his action he can comeback. And secondly he needs to given a bit of time because it is a scar – not just a mental scar but a scar on your record.
“If he is going to be questioned again it is a lots of mental stress for both the team management as well as the player. Are you trying to tell me that if there is no Sunil Narine, there is no team? Unless they feel his other deliveries are going to be as effective and play him.”
Kartik said it would be impossible for Narine to refrain from bowling his stock delivery. “You are so used to doing it. (But now that) He has been reported for his offspinner because they have spotted some flex when he bowls it.”
Kartik felt the greatest challenge for a bowler asked to remodel his action was to suddenly stop doing something that has been ingrained in them since they started learning his art. He pointed out Saeed Ajmal’s struggles in the on-going Bangladesh series, where the once dangerous Pakistan off spinner was dealt with easily by the opponents. “To unlearn and re-learn something and be as effective as before it does not happen. I have not seen anyone doing that at least in the short term.”