IPL 2020: Sunil Narine cleared by IPL bowling action committee

In what comes as a big relief for the two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders, their ace spinner Sunil Narine had been cleared by the Indian Premier League (IPL) committee for suspect bowling action. With this key development, Narine is now off the warning list and can resume his bowling with confidence in the upcoming IPL matches for KKR.

Image Credits: IPL / BCCI

The right-arm mystery spinner was reported in KKR's match against Kings XI Punjab and had to miss two straight games since then which KKR lost by bigger margins (lost to RCB by 82 runs and lost to MI by 8 wickets). The news of his availability without any concerns will be big boost for the Knight Riders franchise as well as their new captain Eoin Morgan.

Reacting to this development, Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore expressed his joy! "Thank you ⁦@IPL⁩ for constituting a very credible review committee & clearing @SunilPNarine74 action expeditiously. An IPL stalwart like him deserves fair treatment! ⁦@KKRiders," tweeted Venky Mysore.

After 34 games in IPL 2020, Kolkata Knight Riders are currently placed fourth in the points table with 8 points (4 wins in 8 games). There is no room for complacency for Knight Riders as this stage of the tournament as the seventh placed Rajasthan Royals have 6 points against their name!

Here is the media release from Indian Premier League Board.

Sunil Narine, the Kolkata Knight Riders player, has been cleared by the IPL’s Suspect Bowling Action Committee. Mr Narine was reported for bowling with a Suspected Illegal Bowling Action during his team’s Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 match against Kings XI Punjab at Abu Dhabi on October 10. Following the report, Mr Narine was placed on the IPL Warning List.

KKR requested for an Official Assessment of Mr Narine’s action from the IPL Suspect Bowling Action Committee, submitting action footage in slow motion with back and side angles. The Committee carefully reviewed all the deliveries of action footage sent of Mr Narine with the naked eye and has come to the conclusion that the elbow-bend appears to be within the range of permissible limits. The Committee also noted that Mr. Narine should reproduce the same action going forward in the IPL 2020 matches as presented to the Committee in the video footage. Mr Narine has now been removed from the IPL Suspect Action Warning List.