Sad, how BCCI handled Narine
Even as Kolkata Knight Riders heaved a huge sigh of relief on Thursday after Sunil Narine was finally cleared by the Suspect Action Committee of the BCCI to bowl all his deliveries – having earlier banned him from bowling the off-spinner on April 28 — the indecisiveness of the Board and its suspect action committee makes one sit up and wonder if it is the committee that needs to be laughed at or is it the Sri Ramachandra Arthroscopy and Sports Sciences Centre (SRASSC) in Chennai that is scientifically unqualified to hold such tests.
The whole tomfoolery over handling Narine and his suspect action has provided more fodder to the thought that the IPL is purely entertainment. Under no circumstance can you ban a player — on grounds of suspect bowling action — and simultaneously clear him three times in a matter of one month. This might not be international cricket, but bringing it down to the level of gully cricket is a shame.
It almost brings back memories of the childhood when the boy who owned the bat would always bat first and if given out, he would threaten to walk back home. In fact, the hullabaloo over Narine’s action and the results of his test reports is more mysterious than the West Indian’s mystery deliveries.
It is understandable that while the committee found Narine’s action clean in a non-match situation at the start of the IPL, on-field umpires felt there was something wrong when he was bowling in the match against Sun Risers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam. In fact, even KKR coach Trevor Bayliss confessed the same on Wednesday when asked about Narine’s bowling action. “Under a little bit ofpressure, the body reverts to the old action and it will take a year or two to be perfect in the long term and under pressure,” he said.
But then, how can the suspect action committee ban Narine from bowling his off-spinners on April 28 and then clear him to bowl all his varieties on May 7? It makes for an interesting study that which was the criterion that Narine managed to fulfill because according to sources in the BCCI, members nominated by the Board were present when Narine underwent his third test — a bizarre scenario indeed.
In fact, this is the very reason why, the result of Narine’s third test was being delayed by the BCCI as they didn’t want another embarrassment of on-field umpires calling him on the ground days after the committee clears him.
Speaking to Mail Today, a senior BCCI official who has been in constant touch in constant touch with the committee said that while the second report did suggest that he could bowl all deliveries apart from the off-spinner, Narine returning for another test to correct his off-spin action had put the committee on the backfoot.
“See, the problem brews from the second report itself. The committee said that he can bowl all deliveries apart from the off-spinner. But the bio-mechanists said that it is only a theoretical solution and practically impossible. The general notion was that if the BCCI cleared him and the umpires call him once again, it would be a huge face loss for the Board and the credentials of the SRASSC would be questioned, so the decision had to be thought out well,” he revealed. Interestingly, Narine has been warned that another report from on-field umpires would see him banned from taking any further part in this edition of the IPL, keeping the doors wide open for another U-turn if needed.