Gautam Gambhir is confident that his Kolkata Knight Riders teammate Sunil Narine will return to action as a “better bowler and stronger human being” after he was reported twice for a suspect bowling action in the CLT20.
Narine was reported twice for a suspect action in the recently concluded T20 event and therefore was not allowed to bowl in the final on Saturday. The doubts over his action led to his withdrawal from West Indies’ tour of India.
KKR captain Gambhir, however, backed his main bowler saying he will do bigger things after the comeback.
“He (Narine) is, was and will always be an integral part of KKR and the entire squad will stand behind him and I hope he can come back as a stronger human being and can achieve much bigger heights than he has achieved in the past,” Gambhir was quoted as saying by ‘ ESPNcricinfo ’
The southpaw said he was shocked to know about Narine’s action being reported.
“The only thing I can say at the moment is it’s a tough time for him, but he’s a strong character. I had a long chat with him after the game (against Dolphins on September 29) and I told him he needed to get this monkey off his back because he himself doesn’t know if there’s anything wrong with his action,” said Gambhir.
“The good thing is now he will get to know whether there is actually a problem in his action. If there is any, he will try to sort that out and come back a stronger human being and a stronger character as well. He could take all that pressure and be a much better bowler as well.
“Sometimes when these things start playing in your mind, what will happen if I bowl this delivery, what will people be talking, etc. Once he gets this off his back I am 100 percent sure he will be a much better bowler.”
Gambhir hoped the authorities are not singling out certain bowlers. Top Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal was also reported for suspect action recently.
“Hopefully they are not targeting certain bowlers and they should not be targeting certain bowlers,” he said
“Sometimes the biggest challenge in these things is to be consistent and that’s where I think it can get unfair. Till the time you are fair I am fine with it, whether it has to do with actions, batsmen, bowlers or xyz. For me consistency is very important in any sport,” added Gambhir.
