Sunil Narine banned from bowling off-spin in IPL

The Kolkata Knight Riders have been hit with a huge blow as their premier spinner has been barred by the BCCI from bowling his stock delivery in the ongoing edition of the IPL.

On 22 April 2015, Narine was reported by the Match Officials for a suspected illegal bowling action for certain deliveries bowled by him during the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam.

Pursuant to this report, he visited the Sri Ramachandra Arthroscopy and Sports Sciences Centre (SRASSC) in Chennai for a biomechanical analysis of his bowling action and after thorough scrutiny and review of the evidence of the match footage and the analysis provided by SRASSC, it was concluded that Narine’s off-spinners were giving him an unfair advantage.

“Following the provisions of the IPL Suspected Illegal Bowling Action Policy, the Committee has concluded that Narine’s bowling action for his off-spinner, contravenes Law 24.2 (as read with Law 24.3) of the Laws of Cricket and therefore the player is now banned from bowling the off-spinner in matches organised by the BCCI, including the IPL. He may however continue to bowl his other deliveries (the knuckle ball and the quicker straight ball),” the BCCI said in a statement.

The statement further read: “If Narine were to again bowl the off-spinner in this season’s IPL, the on-field umpires would apply Law 24.2 and call “No ball” and, at the end of the match, would issue a further report.

“Pursuant to clause 3.4 of the IPL Suspected Illegal Bowling Action Policy, the player would in such circumstances automatically be suspended from bowling in BCCI-organised matches.”

With veteran spinner Brad Hogg in the ranks of the KKR team, this might not prove to be as much of a setback as expected, but we all know what the maverick spinner is capable of. KKR will employ a different strategy now and try to fill in this void with the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla. At the end of his press conference, this is what the BCCI secretary had to say about how this issue is span out:

“Mr. Narine may undergo a course of bowling rehabilitation and take corrective measures to ensure that his action does not contravene Law 24 and may then request a further Official Assessment by the Committee”.