West Indies withdraw Sunil Narine from upcoming India tour following ban in CL T20

Sunil Narine has been withdrawn from the India tour

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has withdrawn off-spinner Sunil Narine from the entire India tour. Narine is being called back to the West Indies after he was reported twice for a suspect bowling action in the CLT20, resulting in a ban in in all BCCI organised matches until he gets his action cleared.

Though the ban doesn’t amount to anything in international cricket, this step may have been a precautionary one to get Narine’s action sorted, close the upcoming World Cup.

The West Indies board, in a press release, said that the decision to withdraw Narine from the series was to allow him "the opportunity to have his action assessed and plan his return to cricket". The decision to omit Narine from the series has left West Indies without any specialist spinner. The selectors are planning to name a replacement player soon.

Former captain Clive Lloyd, who is the current chairman of selectors, expressed his disappointment with the CLT20’s way of dealing with suspect actions.

"I am disappointed that our best bowler could suddenly be out of the tour," he said. "I am quite disappointed about the procedure that surrounded the 'calling' of Sunil in the Champions Trophy tournament. These things have the potential to disrupt the team's preparation for a critical series against India but we will have to overcome this hurdle."

Honestly, not surprised that the West Indies have chosen to send Sunil Narine home. Need him to be available, and ready, for the World Cup

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 4, 2014

The West Indies play a 5-match one-day series against India starting on October 8 followed by a T20 international and 3 Test matches. Although Narine’s ban is restricted to BCCI organized tournaments, his action being reported in the CLT20 made it obvious that his action would be scrutinzed much closely when he played international cricket.

Narine, who is the leading wicket-taker in the CLT20 with 12 wickets from 5 matches, will be missing today’s final against CSK. Although KKR expressed surprise at the umpires’ ruling, they are not going to contest the decision and are willing to comply with the measures suggested by the BCCI so that he can play in BCCI organized tournaments in the future.

This is a big blow to the West Indies, who’re already without Chris Gayle due to injury.