Mysore: Best of Narine to come,Knight Riders want Kallis as team mentor

Mysore: Best of Narine to come
Knight Riders want Kallis as team mentor
Published on Feb 13, 2016, 8:03 pm AST
By Roger Seepersad

Full backing from new franchise: Sunil Narine


Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) CEO Venky Mysore is confident that off-spinner Sunil Narine will make a successful return to the game and that the Twenty20 star will come back better than before.
Speaking at a news conference at Hyatt Regency in Trinidad on Friday, Mysore said he and the Knight Riders were giving Narine their full support as he continues rehabilitation on his action.

Narine was reported during the West Indies’ third One-Day International against Sri Lanka in November last year and an independent assessment ruled that the 27-year-old bent his elbow beyond the 15-degree limit in all variations of his deliveries. He was subsequently banned from bowling by the ICC.
The spinner has since been doing remedial work and was aiming to return for the ICC World Twenty20 but on Friday he opted out of the West Indies side, saying he felt he needed more time to work on his action.
Despite Narine’s withdrawal, Mysore said he is not at all concerned about Narine’s action.

“We don’t have any such concerns because he is a champion. His action is one of its kind in the world and what tends to happen is that in a match situation when umpires look at him, it is an unusual action which is what makes him so effective,” Mysore explained.
“He has been working very, very hard. We have been supporting Sunil in all ways possible. I spoke with (English bowling coach) Carl Crowe (who has been working with Narine) and he is not at all concerned about Sunil going for testing and coming out well,” the Knight Riders CEO added.
“It is about how quickly the modifications he is doing becomes second nature and he can actually go and practice that in match situations, so we have no concerns at all.
“We are happy to have him. I have no doubts he will perform well for us...the best of Sunil is going to be seen shortly,” Mysore concluded.

Mysore also explained that when the Knight Riders took over the T&T franchise last year, one thing everyone kept asking him was when Narine was coming to play for the T&T franchise.
“I said wow, this is really important for the Trinis, so I said we should try an make this happen,” said Mysore.
“He has been a champion for us at KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) and he has been a big part of our success in the two championships we have won. It was a very good civil discussion with the Guyana Amazon Warriors. They understood what we were trying to accomplish and also Sunil’s desire, so it was very quickly and amicable done,” Mysore explained.
The TKR CEO also revealed that Jacques Kallis could be returning to the T&T franchise as a chief mentor having played a part in the team’s success in last year’s CPL.

“One of the things we are really debating is that we appointed Jacques Kallis as our head coach in KKR this season. He was our chief mentor last season and until the previous season he was playing with us. And here also he played for the Red Steel last year. I talked to him about the idea of coming here and working with the Trinbago Knight Riders as our mentor and in all likelihood that is what will happen although I don’t have 100 per cent confirmation from him.
“He did a fantastic job and I think the entire team took to him last year and if he agrees it will be fabulous to have him as our chief mentor,” Mysore explained.