MUMBAI, INDIA—Kolkata Knight Riders believe beleaguered West Indies spin wizard, Sunil Narine, will be ready for the start of their campaign in the Indian Premier League, after returning home recently to undertake remedial work on his action.
The 29-year-old T&T player was reported for an illegal action during the recent Pakistan Super League, putting in doubt his stint in the lucrarive Twenty20 showpiece which bowls off today.
However, KKR assistant coach Simon Katich said Narine had worked hard on correcting the necessary flaws in order to ensure his availability.
“Obviously there were some issues recently in the PSL where he was playing for Lahore [Qalandars], but he’s since gone back to T&T and spent a lot of time with Carl Crowe, working on his action,” Katich told a media conference
“Carl’s his coach, last few years he’s been working with him since he first got reported. He’s done a lot of hard work there. We’re pretty confident with where he’s at with the action at the moment, so hopefully we’ll see him back out there on Sunday.”
Off-spinner Narine’s career has been plagued by question marks over his action and he was slapped with a banned 2-1/2 years ago after being reported following a One-Day International between West Indies and Sri Lanka in Pallekele.
He was cleared by the International Cricket Council to resume bowling just prior to the start of the 2016 edition of the IPL.
Narine has been a key member of KKR’s attack in his six seasons at the franchise, grabbing 95 wickets at an average of 21 and an economy rate of six.
However, after taking 67 wickets in the first three seasons, Narine’s returns have waned in the last three with just a yield of 28 wickets.
His value as an all-rounder has risen in the last two seasons, gathering over 200 runs in each of the last two seasons at the top of the order.
Katich said Narine’s importance in the batting line-up was still key even though it had not yet been decided exactly what role he would play.
“Last year, initially, he didn’t open – we had Gautam Gambhir and Chris Lynn that opened, but then after game two, when Chris Lynn hurt his shoulder, we had to rejig the team balance-wise,” Katich explained.
“We felt that Sunny (Narine) opening was going to give us an advantage with the balance of our team and also free him up to play a role at the top of the order, which he did a very, very good job of.
“He’s primarily one of our main spinners, if not our number one spinner, but given the balance of our team, you never know where he’s going to bat, so it all depends on what we feel the best combination is.”
KKR open their campaign on Sunday against Royal Challengers Bangalore. (CMC)
