The West Indies team management may not publicly display how much they are missing the wily off-spinner Sunil Narine in the ICC World T20.
Narine has earned his reputation as a Twenty20 professional the world over, having appeared in 168 career T20 matches, picked up 216 wickets and has an economy rate of 5.52. Bowling a dot ball in T20 is a rarity, and a maiden over in the normal course of 20 overs is heaven. But Narine defied all odds when he bowled a maiden in the Super Over in the Caribbean Premier League of 2014. That's Narine for you.
But all along, his action was closely monitored, be it in the IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders or anywhere else. But the biggest blow came last year end when he was suspended from bowling in international as his arm bent more than the desired 15-degrees.
Despite all these, Narine, the No. 1-ranked T20I bowler, was originally named for World T20 before he himself withdrew at around the same time Kieron Pollard, Darren Bravo and Lendl Simmons pulled out for various reasons and when the pay dispute between the players and West Indies Cricket Board was still at the negotiation stage.
England captain Eoin Morgan only had sympathy towards Narine. He said: "I've known Sunil and know what he's going through," he said here on Tuesday. "He's bowled the same way since he was 15 or 16. At only this stage of his career he's been looked upon is probably disappointing for him. There are set rules in place that have to be employed, though."
West Indies skipper Darren Sammy said that players of the calibre of Narine will be tough to replace. "It is difficult to replace someone like Narine or Pollard. It is always difficult to replace quality players. We lost Narine but we get guys who are equally good and have the same impact. I expect Narine's replacement, (left-arm spinner) Sulieman Benn to have a huge tournament and he is one of our match-winners as well."
While Morgan may heave a sigh of relief with Narine not in the tournament, he was not really concerned about the power-hitters that West Indies possess right from the destructive Chris Gayle at the top. "I think they've got a number of dangerous players. The West Indies have been a strong side in the past and have a number of individual players who are very strong. We need to focus hard and execute our plans. There are plans in place but ultimately it depends on how well we execute them," the Dublin-born 29-year-old left-handed batsman said.
