Sunil Narine is a popular name in the world of cricket, and his absence from the West Indies cricket team has raised many questions. Narine has been an integral part of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team in the Indian Premier League (IPL), but he has not been playing for the West Indies since August 2019. Let’s see why Sunil Narine is not playing international cricket.
Why Sunil Narine is not playing for West Indies?
Despite being in his best form, Sunil Narine is not playing international cricket for West Indies because he announced his retirement from international cricket in November 2023. The West Indies all-rounder, who had an illustrious eight-year career representing the Windies, last played for Men in Maroon in August 2019 in a T20I match.
Narine’s spell with West Indies didn’t go well due to issues with his bowling action. In 2014, Narine was suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for an illegal bowling action. He was subsequently cleared to bowl again in 2015, but he was reported again in 2018 for a suspect action.
Narine was asked to undergo a biomechanical analysis of his bowling action, which he did in England in 2019. However, the analysis showed that Narine’s action was still suspect, and he was banned from bowling in international cricket by the ICC.
This ban prevented Narine from playing for the West Indies in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, and he has not played for the West Indies since then. The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has been supportive of Narine, and they have been working with him to correct his action.
Narine has been working on his bowling action and has been playing in domestic cricket and the IPL, where he has been successful. However, he has not been cleared by the ICC to bowl in international cricket. The WICB has been in constant communication with the ICC to resolve Narine’s bowling action issues, but there has been no clear resolution yet.
Will Sunil Narine play in T20 World Cup 2024?
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 is scheduled in the month of June. West Indies is going through a very bad phase in international cricket. They have won the T20 World Cup two times and in order to solidify their place, they need to perform well in the upcoming tournament. Sunil Narine is in his best form while playing for KKR in IPL and he can be a valuable addition to the squad of West Indies. West Indies T20I captain Rovman Powell has also said that he is trying to convince Sunil Narine to come out of retirement and play for the Caribbean side at June’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Why Sunil Narine was not selected in West Indies T20 World Cup 2022 Squad?
Sunil Narine was s not selected in the West Indies team for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia because the team management did not receive any information regarding his availability. The selector also said that Narine also seemed disinterested.
Sunil Narine was the top-ranked spinner in the world at a time. Apart from bowling, he also established himself as a hard-hitter who can bat at the top of the order and could have been a weapon for the team in the upcoming tournament. But unfortunately he was not selected in the 15-member squad.
Speaking on Narine’s exclusion from West Indies T20 World Cup Squad 2022, CWI chief selector Desmond Haynes stated that :-
“I did not get any notice from Narine regarding his availability to play. There were conversations that the captain (Nicholas Pooran) was having with Narine, and from all reports, it seemed that he was not interested.”
Why Sunil Narine did not play in T20 World Cup 2021 ?
“As well as he has been performing he is one of a few players who did not meet our fitness criteria, so he was not eligible for selection. Sunil Narine is a great miss for a team like this in a tournament like this. Any team would miss having a bowler of that quality in the team but as I mentioned with Rutherford and some of the others Sunil also did not make our fitness standards.” Harper said.
Both Rutherford and Narine failed to meet the minimum mark in the Yo-Yo Endurance Test. However, in some cases players can be given a medical exemption by the Cricket West Indies (CWI) medical committee.
Narine last played for the West Indies in the India tour of the West Indies in 2019. But he has been a crucial player for Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) during the 2021 Caribbean Premier League (CPL). He played an important role in the bowling attack and took 11 wickets at an average of 13.90, an economy rate of 4.78 and a strike rate of 17.4.
Sunil Narine T20 World Cup 2022 omission is a great setback for many cricket fans around the globe. This is because Narine has played in almost every franchise league. Be it CPL or BBL, the West Indian has been a part of it in the past.
Sunil Narine gave a superb performance in IPL 2022. Even after all this he will not be a part of T20 World Cup 2022 squad for after failing to match their fitness standards.
