Sunil Narine and the fading of offspin

Thu, Mar 18, '21

Since the pandemic began, the more thorough ICC-led process of assessing actions has not been available even in top-flight international cricket - it being difficult to ensure all those reported can travel to labs. If a bowler were to be called in a bilateral series tomorrow, their action would be judged by an expert panel on video footage alone. This panel could have on it people who run the testing labs, but it's still only video footage they're looking at. So it's entirely understandable that Narine doesn't feel ready right now. The IPL has been his main gig for some time and if he'd played international cricket before it, been reported and his action found illegal, under the regulations he would not be able to play in the IPL.

More or less, this is where Narine has been - not feeling ready with his action - and in this lingering pose ever since he was first reported in the Champions League in 2014 - twice in a matter of days. He has been reported four more times since. At various times he has been banned from bowling in international cricket, banned from bowling off-breaks in the IPL, and placed on warning lists in the PSL. Each time he has corrected his action and returned; sometimes, as ahead of the 2015 IPL, he had to be cleared twice by different labs, just because.

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