A press release from Kolkata Knight Riders almost confirmed about the unavailability of Sunil Narine today. Tom Banton comes in place for Narine today in KKR’s match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Keep reading to find out the reason why Sunil Narine is not playing against Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2020.
Here is why Sunil Narine not playing today against RCB
Sunil Narine was reported for his bowling action in the last match of Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday. The IPL official release suggested that according to IPL’s suspected illegal bowling action policy the West Indian all-rounder had been reported by the on-field match officials. “Mr Narine will be placed on the Warning List and is permitted to continue to bowl in the tournament. Another report will result in Mr. Narine being suspended from bowling in the Dream11 IPL 2020 until cleared by the BCCI Suspect Bowling Action Committee.”
Few hours before the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore today, KKR released a statement regarding the same. They said, “This came as a surprise to the franchise and Mr. Narine, considering he has played over 115 games in the IPL since 2012 and as many as 68 games since 2015, when he was last reported during the IPL season for a suspect action before being subsequently cleared completely by SRASSC, an ICC accredited facility.” The release further stated, “Furthermore, he was playing his 6th game this season, with no concerns expressed formally or informally by the match officials so far. Having said this, we are respectful of the process that the IPL has put in place to have his action reviewed, and are working closely with the IPL in this matter. We are hopeful that there would be an appropriate resolution quickly. We appreciate the cooperation being extended by the IPL in expediting this matter.”
Tom Banton replaces Narine
The situation was definitely not ideal for the KKR management to take risks with Narine further. Expectedly Kolkata Knight Riders have decided to play their 7th IPL 2020 match against Virat Kohli’s RCB without Narine. In place of Sunil Narine, Tom Banton finally is set for his IPL debut. Banton, the English opener with experience of 40 T20s is expected to bring stability in the KKR line-up. “Banton is a special player, he’s a superstar in the making, he replaces Sunil Narine”, said Dinesh Karthik.
KKR Playing XI:
Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Tom Banton, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik (C/wk), Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy
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