IPL 2020 | Game over for KKR in IPL 2020 if Sunil Narine is banned, opines Michael Vaughan

On Saturday versus Kings XI Punjab, Sunil Narine helped Kolkata Knight Riders pull off the most remarkable heist imaginable, but the win came at a cost as later that night, the mystery spinner, who has a history of being banned for possessing an illegal bowling action, was issued his final warning for chucking. The officials deemed Narine’s action to be illegal and thus, he was served a ‘one and done’ notice, meaning he would be banned from the rest of the competition should he be found guilty of chucking one more time.

“With Sunil Narine, you just know that you can save him up for three overs in the end and he just causes chaos. Whatever you’re defending, or if you’re bowling first, he gets wickets. Batsmen have played against him so many times and yet they still don’t pick him. If he’s not going to play much of a role from hereon, and if Andre Russell is also going to miss out due to injury, KKR are really going to struggle to compete.”

“He (Banton) is a good player. Young player so he’s not got too much consistency with him. He can have a great day out and get you a quick fifty. He’s got a fantastic career ahead of him. But Chris Green (as Narine’s replacement) is also interesting. Because he had to leave the Big Bash League due to a problem in his action so it’s quite ironic that KKR might have to replace Narine with someone who has the same problem,” the 45-year-old said.

But despite Narine having been just issued a ‘warning’, Vaughan reckoned that teams will now try to do everything they can to possibly alert the officials. According to the 45-year-old, teams might now start nagging the officials about Narine’s action, given they know that the mystery spinner will be done for the tournament should he get reported one more time.